At this point, what fresh angle is there left to explore about Vaibhav Sooryavanshi? At only 15, he already appears to have ticked every box in what’s been an astonishing IPL start. With each new innings, the impact seems to scale higher—bigger swings, sharper damage, and a level of power that feels out of place for someone so young. In the Orange Cap conversation, he’s not merely keeping pace with the established names; he’s giving the likes of Virat Kohli a serious run. More than that, he’s not just punishing bowlers physically—he’s also leaving them psychologically rattled, as if confidence itself is getting chipped away ball by ball.
On Wednesday evening at Mullanpur, Sooryavanshi delivered yet another reminder of why the cricketing world can’t stop talking about him. He moved beyond Chris Gayle’s benchmark for the most sixes in a season, taking his tally to 65 and counting. In the process, he struck 12 maximums while facing only 29 deliveries—numbers that are hard to process, and harder still to defend against from a bowling perspective. For bowlers, it’s the kind of innings that doesn’t just ask questions—it rewrites them.
With the spotlight on him, Sachin Tendulkar—often the figure to whom Sooryavanshi is compared—was quick to offer a closer look at what makes the youngster tick. Tendulkar’s message didn’t read like generic praise; it sounded like a technical read on his batting. Sooryavanshi, though, had every reason to feel the sting before this burst of fireworks. He had been dismissed for 97 for the second time in the season, and that meant he missed a third century in the space of about a month. For any teenager, those near-misses can weigh heavily—yet the way he bounced back suggests the disappointment is already being absorbed and converted into intent.
Moments after he dismantled Sunrisers Hyderabad with another explosive display, Tendulkar took to X to break down the mechanics behind the destruction. He highlighted how Sooryavanshi’s bat swing has been exceptional, and how the youngster’s front-foot movement helps him create space against deliveries aimed at the leg side. That balance and freedom, Tendulkar noted, allow him to play his preferred brand of cricket. The innings, in Tendulkar’s words, was nothing short of spectacular.
Tendulkar wasn’t alone in praising the teen sensation. Other former stars and match-winners also took to social media to react to the performance. Yuvraj Singh wrote, “Boss baby breaks world bosses record! Unbelievable this kid great to watch,” while Harbhajan Singh went even further, describing him as both unique and extremely dangerous—calling him a six-hitting machine and “our very own Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.” Then came Sanath Jayasuriya, the Matara Mauler, whose awe carried special weight given the kind of ruthless striker he was at the peak of his powers. Jayasuriya said, “This is some hitting from Vaibhav. Very special talent, such confidence at a young age. Cricket has a special player coming through.” When praise like that arrives from one of cricket’s most polished and brutal batters, it underlines just how rare Sooryavanshi’s talent appears to be—not only in ability, but in temperament.
So realistically, what else is left to say now except the simplest truth: Vaibhav—he looks like the stuff dreams are made of. The impossible has already become routine, and the stage that seemed unthinkable for a teenager has been passed. He’s now positioned to stack milestone after milestone, at a pace that may be hard for anyone else to match. After Tendulkar, Indian cricket waited close to four decades for another teen phenomenon to truly take centre stage. Now that Sooryavanshi has arrived and seized the moment, it doesn’t feel like a flash in the pan. It feels like the beginning of a long run—one that could keep bowlers’s lives miserable, game after game, season after season.
