Vaibhav Sooryavanshi: Is IPL wonderkid, 15, best T20 opener in the world and do India have to pick him for England series?
Michael Vaughan leads calls for IPL record-breaker Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to be picked for India's white-ball tour of England in July - but competition is fierce; Sooryavanshi slammed 72 sixes for Rajasthan Royals this term, with his 776 runs coming at a strike-rate of 237.30
Saturday 30 May 2026 12:44, UK
Teenagers are smashing it in sport right now.
Luke Littler (19) is ruling darts. Joao Fonseca (19) has just dumped all-time tennis great Novak Djokovic out of the French Open.
Kimi Antonelli (19) leads the F1 world championship. Max Dowman (16) played his part in Arsenal's Premier League win.
- Got Sky? Watch cricket live on the Sky Sports app
- Not got Sky? Stream cricket contract-free on NOW
- Follow Sky Sports on WhatsApp for news and more
And at the IPL, a 15-year-old is running riot.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is literally smashing it. In 16 innings, he has smoked a record 72 sixes. That's an average of 4.5 a game.
Sooryavanshi's six haul - the previous record in a single IPL was the 59 struck by Chris Gayle in 2012 - helped propel him to 776 runs for the campaign from just 327 deliveries.
The Rajasthan Royals star's strike-rate (the average number of runs a batter scores per 100 balls faced) was a mind-boggling 237.30.
The IPL has never seen the like from a player to have hit this volume of runs. Jake Fraser-McGurk's strike-rate in 2024 was 234.04 but his end runs total was 330, from 141 balls.
One of the many wowed by this wonderkid is former England captain Michael Vaughan.
Vaughan tweeted on the day Sooryavanshi was caught for 97 attempting a boundary that would have seen him nail an IPL-record 29-ball hundred - Gayle's 30-ball effort is safe for now - that the left-hander was "the best T20 opener in the world".
So, is he right?
Who are Sooryavanshi's rivals for world's best T20 opener?
Something like this is always going to be subjective. A great debate for a sunny day in a beer garden or, in this case, on the many Indian maidans, but hard to say for definite.
What counts against Sooryavanshi is that he has not yet played international cricket - that day will come, probably very soon - and that others have been doing it for longer.
The list of others includes countrymen Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan - the former is the No 1-ranked batter in T20Is, the latter sits at No 2. Another Indian, Sanju Samson, sizzled at the back end of this year's T20 World Cup and hit two IPL tons this term.
Pakistan's Sahibzada Farhan, third in the T20I standings, was the leading run-scorer at the T20 World Cup in the spring. Australia's Mitchell Marsh is a gun in this format.
England's Phil Salt has four T20I hundreds, with the highlight a 60-ball 141 not out against South Africa last September. Team-mate Jos Buttler would have been in the conversation big time a few years ago when at his peak but perhaps not now.
But where Sooryavanshi outstrips his challengers is the brutality.
When it comes to fours scored in the 2026 IPL, his tally of 63 is fourth highest. When it comes to sixes slugged, he is in a league of his own, amassing a whopping 29 more than Abhishek.
So what we can probably say without question is that Sooryavanshi is the best T20 opener in the world right now. His IPL has been startling.
A 36-ball hundred against Sunrisers Hyderabad, that 29-ball 97 against the same team, a 38-ball 93 versus Lucknow Super Giants, a 47-ball 96 against Gujarat Titans.
He collared Royal Challengers Bengaluru for 78 from 26 balls. He creamed Chennai Super Kings for 52 from 17 deliveries. His 521 runs in the powerplay this season (the first six overs of an innings) is a record across all editions of the IPL.
And as remarkable as all this is, we can't say it has come as a complete shock.
Remember, this is a player who belted a 35-ball hundred as a 14-year-old for Rajasthan against Gujarat in last year's IPL. Between then and the 2026 edition, he dominated youth cricket, hammering 175 from 80 balls against England in the U19 World Cup final.
India call-up next for Sooryavanshi?
We now wait to see whether he will be given the chance to hammer England's senior bowlers when India arrive on these shores later in the summer for a tour that comprises five T20 internationals and three one-day internationals.
With the aforementioned Abhishek, Kishan and Samson around, Sooryavanshi has immense competition for a place in a side that has won the last two T20 World Cups.
Plus, with all the pressures and scrutiny international cricket can put on you, India may decide that at 15 - a young 15 at that, he doesn't turn 16 until March 2027 - that it may be too soon for Sooryavanshi.
But's he's making a hell of a case and Vaughan feels India must pick him to face England.
Rajasthan coach Kumar Sangakkara said: "With everything Vaibhav's shown against some of the best bowlers in the world, he's more than ready to take on any challenge that you throw at him.
"I'm sure that he'll get that call-up very soon. He's batted with a lot of maturity. He has shouldered the responsibility of that opening partnership so well for us this season."
Mature, confident and devastating - Sooryavanshi's key traits
Sooryavanshi displayed that maturity against Gujarat on Friday when he watched top-order wickets fall around him.
He struck his first six off the 14th legal ball he faced and reached fifty from 31. Not slow, but slow by his breath-taking standards. He also shrugged off a blow to the helmet. Then he accelerated, hitting 46 runs from his next 16 balls before slicing to deep third.
It was the second innings in a row he perished looking to reach three figures in style and the third in four he had fallen in the 90s playing an attacking shot but, in a way, that perhaps shows his readiness for international cricket. He doesn't do backward steps.
And he doesn't lack confidence either, telling Kevin Pietersen recently that he reckons he can score 200 in a T20 fixture.
"You don't feel like you have too many options," remarked Pat Cummins, after being hit for three sixes in a row by Sooryavanshi during his 29-ball 97 against Sunrisers in the IPL play-offs. "You miss your yorker by a little bit and he doesn't tend to miss them."
India may now have no option but to pick him. No option but to pick a 15-year-old. Just let that sink in.
We don't clutter his mind too much. He comes to all our team meetings, he contributes, he listens, does a lot of homework. He practises well and he reads bowlers well, he watches their videos and prepares himself. We don’t want to put unnecessary thoughts in his head. I think a clear mind, batting with courage is exactly what we want to see off him.
Watch India's white-ball tour of England, from July 1-19, live on Sky Sports. Not got Sky? Stream cricket and more with NOW.
India tour of England 2026
All times UK and Ireland; all live on Sky Sports
- First T20I (Wednesday July 1) - Chester-le-Street, Durham (5.30pm)
- Second T20I (Saturday July 4) - Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester (2.30pm)
- Third T20I (Tuesday July 7) - Trent Bridge, Nottingham (5.30pm)
- Fourth T20I (Thursday July 9) - Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol (5.30pm)
- Fifth T20I (Saturday July 11) - Utilita Bowl, Southampton (2.30pm)
- First ODI (Tuesday July 14) - Edgbaston, Birmingham (11am)
- Second ODI (Thursday July 16) - Sophia Gardens, Cardiff (1pm)
- Third ODI (Sunday July 19) - Lord's, London (11am)
