Phased at the domestic level and through international matches, Indian cricket has gradually opened up its gates to a long line of gifted youngsters and very young players. Among others, there were Vijay Mehra during the fifties, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan and Maninder Singh in the early eighties, and the greatest of them all, Sachin Tendulkar, in 1989. All these miracle boys made their international debuts for India well before they could celebrate their 18th birth anniversary.
Tendulkar, the youngest Indian to make Test debut is fifth in the list of youngest international debutants- a very competitive list dominated by players from Pakistan, thus starting off at the age of 16 years and 205 days old against Pakistan.
Rise of Vaibhav Suryavanshi in Cricket
Recently, Vaibhav Suryavanshi has drawn the attention of the cricket fraternity towards him through his striking batting performances in the age categories and India-A series. He is yet to turn 15 next March, but his contribution to Indian cricket is already very huge.
The kid from Bihar was noticed very early in his career and was so good that he was by then representing the Bihar Under-19 team when he was just a 12-year-old boy. He played his first Ranji match for Bihar in January 2024 at just 12 years and 284 days.
That same year he played his first youth Test for the Indian Under-19 team against the Australian Under-19 team and in his first match, he scored a brilliant hundred in just 58 balls. He broke the record and became the youngest batsman ever to score an international hundred at the Under-19 level.
Stamping in Authority in IPL
He was in the 2024 IPL auction with a starting price of INR 30 Lakhs. The Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals had his bid contended, the Royals eventually getting his talent for INR 1.10 Crore; he thus became the youngest player ever selected in IPL.
It was obviously a smart future investment by the Royals, yet Abel Suryavanshi’s debut took place versus Lucknow Super Giants because of the injury of captain Sanju Samson in IPL 2025. He smashed a six on his very first ball and announced his coming with a loud bang. Then in that very season, he broke the record for the youngest player to score a T20 hundred and made it in 35 balls – the second-fastest in IPL history.
In 2025, Suryavanshi went on to make centuries against England and Australia U-19 teams and that too with some amazing strike rates. He also got promoted to vice-captain of the Bihar Ranji team and made 93 runs against Meghalaya before joining India A for the Emerging Asia Cup in Qatar. His first match was against UAE in which he scored 144 runs off just 42 balls – the joint third fastest century by an Indian in Men’s T20 and he also top-scored against the team of Pakistan.
With his current form, the buzz around his international cricket debut is already there. But should India give him a place on the Indian team so early?
Indian cricket team in the next T2OI World Cup:
The bigger picture Suryavanshi will attend the U19 World Cup in Zimbabwe and Namibia in January 2024. Press and fans have already begun to guess about the player’s international debut, all due to Suryavanshi’s super-form and fast pace.
For the Indian selectors, it’s a welcomed headache particularly when the Indian team is preparing for the upcoming T20 World Cup at home next February. There is no denying that the BCCI has a crystal-clear intention to grow his game at a higher level and Suryavanshi is already at the last stage of the pipeline. However, the question remains whether he is ready for the senior cap?
On the other hand, the Indian T20 team up to now appears balanced and arranged and inarguably the world’s best team at present. Even if Sanju Samson, a player with three T20I hundreds, is already sitting on the bench, he hasn’t played very little. Top of the order is a duo of Abhishek Sharma & Shubman Gill with the likes of Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, and others handling the middle order.
What to expect?
The Indian cricket team will play a total of 10 more T20 internationals until the tournament, comprising 5 matches each against South Africa and New Zealand. Coach Gautam Gambhir won’t change much in the squad that won the Asia Cup in September unless there are injury concerns.
For Suryavanshi, it would be a good move to make his chances through a win in the Under-19 World Cup followed by a powerful IPL. These will eventually help him get a call for India’s white-ball tour of England on the cards for next year even before he turns 16.
