Vaibhav Suryavanshi, a young cricketer from India, is only 13 years old. Despite his young age, he has already made headlines with his remarkable cricketing achievements. According to various Indian media reports, he has scored 49 centuries in a single year.
Thanks to this incredible feat, Vaibhav has stunned everyone by becoming the youngest cricketer to be selected for an IPL team. Rajasthan Royals acquired him for 11 million rupees, significantly exceeding his base price of 3 million rupees.
Since then, discussions about him have gained momentum. People are curious about his background, where he lives, what he does, and even who his favorite cricketer is. Recently, in an interview with Sony Sports, Vaibhav, who played in the Under-19 Asia Cup for India, was asked about his cricketing idol.
His answer surprised many—his idol is not an Indian player. In fact, the cricketer he admires retired from all forms of cricket before Vaibhav was even born. He never had the chance to watch Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, or Rahul Dravid play live. Although he grew up watching Virat Kohli, even Kohli is not his idol. Vaibhav’s inspiration is the legendary West Indian cricketer Brian Lara.
Expressing his admiration, Vaibhav said, “Brian Lara is my idol. I try to play like him. Then I use my own skills to improve my game and continue working on them.”
Despite being sold for 11 million rupees in the IPL mega auction, Vaibhav remains grounded. He wants to stay focused on his game and not get carried away. “Right now, I am concentrating on my performance. I am not bothered by what’s happening around me. My first priority is to focus on the Under-19 Asia Cup,” he said.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s Record-Breaking Century in Youth Test
The Under-19 Youth Test between India and Australia is currently underway at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Playing for the Indian Under-19 team in this match is a 13-year-old cricketer. That alone would have been enough to make headlines for Vaibhav Suryavanshi. But he truly made waves in the cricketing world by scoring a stunning century—and that too in just 58 balls, making it the second-fastest century in Youth Test history. The fastest century in this format belongs to Moeen Ali, who scored a 100 in just 56 balls for England’s Under-19 team in 2005.
With this feat, Vaibhav also set the record for being the youngest player to score a century in competitive cricket, breaking the previous record held by Bangladesh’s Nazmul Hossain Shanto. In 2013, Nazmul scored a century against Sri Lanka in a Youth One-Day match at the age of 14 years and 241 days.
Vaibhav’s century came yesterday during India’s first innings in the Youth Test. Opening the innings alongside Bihan Malhotra, the duo added 133 runs. However, Bihan was more of a spectator as he watched Vaibhav’s explosive batting up close—104 of those runs belonged to Vaibhav. The left-handed batter smashed 14 fours and 4 sixes to reach 104 runs off just 62 balls. Despite Vaibhav’s aggressive start, the Indian Under-19 team was eventually bowled out for 296, securing a slender 3-run lead. By the end of the second day, Australia’s youth team had scored 110 runs for 4 wickets.
Vaibhav had already been a talking point in Indian cricket for quite some time. Earlier in January, he made his first-class debut for Bihar against Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy. At that time, the Bihar Cricket Association confirmed that Vaibhav’s official age was 12 years and 284 days. Since 1986, no player younger than Vaibhav had played first-class cricket. Only six players in history have made their first-class debuts at a younger age.
Hailing from Bihar, Vaibhav first gained recognition for his aggressive batting in local tournaments. In the inter-district Hemant Trophy, he scored over 800 runs in just 8 matches, finishing as the top scorer. He then went on to score 400 runs in five matches of the Vinoo Mankad Trophy. His consistent performances earned him a spot in the Under-19 Challengers Trophy, followed by a call-up to Bihar’s Under-23 training camp. Eventually, he made his way into Bihar’s Ranji Trophy team.
Vaibhav’s ability to strike the ball with immense power was first noticed by his father, a farmer. His father recalls how, at just four years old, Vaibhav would hit plastic balls with astonishing force, far beyond what was expected for his age. That was when he started dreaming of making his son a cricketer.
Like Indian cricket stars Sachin Tendulkar and Prithvi Shaw, Vaibhav has gained attention at a very young age. However, his idol is not an Indian cricketer but the legendary West Indian Brian Lara. A left-handed batter like Lara, Vaibhav has watched Lara’s historic 400-run innings countless times, drawing inspiration from it.
