Why There Is Confusion Around The Age Of Vaibhav Suryavanshi, India U19's 13-Year-Old Opener

India Under-19 sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who recently hit a stunning hundred against Australia Under-19 , may be older than his official age of 13.

In the first Youth Test match against Australia Under-19, at Chennai, India Under-19 opened Vaibhav Suryavanshi slammed a 58-ball hundred, the fastest for his side, with 14 fours and four sixes.

Suryavanshi’s innings (he eventually made 104 in 62 balls) was only the second hundred by an India Under-19 opener against Australia, after Milap Mewada’s 126 at Thiruvananthapuram in 1993/94.

Suryavanshi was only 13 years 187 days when the Test began, which made him the youngest to score a hundred in the format among players whose dates of birth are documented. In fact, he is the only one to get a hundred before turning 15 (let alone 14).

Suryavanshi had made his first-class debut for Bihar this January. As per his official date of birth (March 27, 2011), he was only 12 years 284 days old, making him the seventh-youngest first-class cricketer and the youngest since Rizwan Sattar (12 years 263 days) in 1985/86.

Suryavanshi’s first-class career is yet to get off to a notable start: he made 19 and 12 against Mumbai and a pair against Chhattisgarh in his two games – 31 runs at 7.75.

However, there is some doubt over the authenticity over Suryavanshi’s official date of birth. In an interview in 2023, Suryavanshi had told that he would turn 14 on September 27, 2023. In other words, he was about a year and a half older than his official age.

However, assuming he was born on September 27, 2009, Suryavanshi would have been 15 years 3 days old by the time the Youth Test against Australia Under-19 began. That would still have made him the youngest centurion in the format, pushing Nasir Jamshed (204 at 15 years 102 days) to the second place.

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