Who is Vaibhav Suryavanshi? 13-year-old Indian prodigy who smoked Australia U19 attack for 58-ball century in youth Test

History was set in the unofficial U-19 Test match being played between India and Australia, at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. 13-year-old batter Vaibhav Suryavanshi blitzed the Australian bowling attack on his way to a 58-ball century, setting the record for the fastest Youth Test century by any Indian player, and second quickest overall. Vaibhav Suryavanshi celebrates his milestone against Australia U-19.(PTI)

The young southpaw from Bihar has quickly captured the imagination of Indian cricket fans, delivering the sort of performance in his 62-ball 104 that asks people to sit up and take notice.

Suryavanshi hails from Samastipur district in Bihar, and is the son of cricket-crazy fanatic Sanjeev, who has a chance of realising his dreams of raising a cricketer in his family — an ambition borne from time spent near maidaans in Mumbai.

The lefty has been on the radar for India’s age-group selections for his incredible talent, slotted in to play with and against players 5 or 6 years his senior. Nevertheless, an innings of 14 boundaries and 4 sixes shows the fearlessness that is key to being a star at any level.

He debuted for Bihar in the Ranji Trophy at the age of 12 years and 284 days, at a younger age than Yuvraj Singh and Sachin Tendulkar, the two defining prodigies of Indian cricket. Suryavanshi has claimed that he takes inspiration from another left-hander, Brian Lara, due to the manner in which he built his game around dominating opposition bowlers.

There are some questions over Suryavanshi’s age due to an interview from 2023, which would make him 15-years-old, but the BCCI and Bihar both list his birth year as 2011. Whatever the case, it takes a special talent to dominate a visiting team’s best prospects in such a manner.

Suryavanshi had come under notice after a terrific performance in the age-group tournament Vinoo Mankad Trophy, where he averaged 78.60 with a century and three half-centuries. This came on the back of a successful Quadrangular Series playing for India-B late in 2023, all of which combined to put him in contention for the NCA’s high-performance camps for age-group cricketers, allowing him to climb from strength to strength in his early developmental phase.

India vs Australia Youth Test in the balance

The southpaw’s rapid century helped India U-19 establish a three-run lead over Australia, who had put on 293 in the first innings at Chepauk. In response, Suryavanshi put on a 133-run opening stand alongside Vihaan Malhotra, who scored 76.

Vaibhav was run-out at that stage, having done the bulk of the scoring at that point. The only player with a quicker century in Youth Tests is Moeen Ali, who scored a 56-ball ton in 2005. India couldn’t capitalise on the strong start, but still managed to get their noses ahead. Australia were 110-4 in the third innings at stumps on day two.

Vaibhav has torn it up in age-group cricket, earning a quick series of promotions, and is undoubtedly not too far from piquing the interest of more senior level competitions if he can make a regular occurrence of performances such as these. A name to watch out for in Indian cricket in coming years.

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