Vaibhav Suryavanshi has the world at his feet but there will be ups and downs, says Matt Kabir Floyd
Sky Sports' Matt Kabir Floyd hails 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi's incredible century in the IPL as he stunned the cricketing world; watch the IPL live on Sky Sports, up to and including the final on May 25
Friday 2 May 2025 07:37, UK
As teen IPL star Vaibhav Suryavanshi stuns the world, Sky Sports' Matt Kabir Floyd asks if the mental or physical side of 1scoring a hundredis the more impressive, what he can learn from Glenn Maxwell's career and reaction to Sam Curran's aggressive celebration to his 50...
Last week I described 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi hitting his first ball in the IPL for six as one of the most extraordinary things you will see on a cricket field.
What happened on Monday - when he smashed the second fastest IPL hundred of all time - may well be THE most extraordinary.
There are two elements to this incredible achievement and I've been debating all week with friends what is more impressive - having the unbelievable mental strength to deal with the pressure of the situation or having the skill level and physical capability to play an innings like that at 14 years old?
A large part of the key to batting is in the mind. Judging in a split-second which shot to play to which ball, not over-thinking and playing each ball on merit, staying concentrated for the whole innings. On top of that, it's not easy to step up a level and be relaxed enough to play your natural game.
Suryavanshi was brought back down to earth on Thursday when he was dismissed for a second-ball duck, but that should not deter from the remarkable feat that stunned the cricketing world earlier in the week.
- Who is 14-year-old history-maker Vaibhav Suryavanshi?
- Scorecard: Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians
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Take a look at Mark Ramprakash and Graeme Hick for example - great first-class players who couldn't translate that greatness to the Test arena. It wasn't an issue of technique, that's for sure. That Suryavanshi was able to walk into the best T20 league in the world, with tens of millions of eyes (at least!) on him and not be overawed is staggering in itself.
The physical side of the innings might just be even more impressive. I remember playing men's club cricket at 14 and everything seemed extreme - the bowling was too fast (it was probably only about 65mph!), the batters hit the ball so hard at you in the field and there was a general feeling of being a boy in a man's game.
How on earth was he able to look completely comfortable with the speed of the game when he would have faced hardly any 85mph bowling in a match situation? And then there's the power aspect.
There are plenty of current international players who struggle to hit the ball out of the park, some of them great players like Joe Root and Kane Williamson. Virat Kohli finds it slightly easier to clear the ropes but I doubt he has hit many over 90 metres long. Suryavanshi hit two that flew that distance against the Titans. The hand-eye coordination, bat speed, timing and raw power shown by someone so young has been nothing short of astonishing.
Vaibhav has the world at his feet at the moment but the journey will never be a smooth one - there will be ups and downs along the way; Thursday's early dismissal was a swift reminder of as much. No one knows this more than Glenn Maxwell, who has broken his finger, bringing an end to another miserable IPL season for one of the most iconic T20 players in history.
In the last two seasons he's scored just 100 runs in 15 innings, one less than Suryavanshi managed in just 38 balls on Monday. But this is nothing new for Maxwell - this is a player who once went a whole IPL season without hitting a single six but who is also capable of some of the most superhuman innings ever seen, such as his ridiculous double century against Afghanistan in the 2023 World Cup (arguably the greatest ODI innings of all time).
The spotlight is fully on Suryavanshi now and when the inevitable tough period arrives he will do well to speak to Maxwell - nobody knows how to deal with the peaks and troughs of professional cricket as well as he does.
Meanwhile over in Chennai, England's forgotten man Sam Curran was busy bludgeoning his way to 88 against Maxwell's team-mates at the Punjab Kings. The innings was eye-catching but so was the celebration, when he aggressively made a 'call me' signal to an unknown person beyond the boundary.
I wonder if that was a message to the England selectors? Or an ex-girlfriend perhaps? Some of the social media reaction to it has been predictably hilarious but in truth we don't know at the moment. Please Sam, do reveal all!
With most teams having only four group matches left there is still just four points separating top from sixth. Momentum, though, is key at this stage of the competition and RCB and Mumbai have it, while Delhi are slipping at the wrong time.
On top of that the Capitals have a tough run in with three of their four games against play-off competitors Punjab, Gujarat and Mumbai. Chennai are the only side officially out of contention for the top four after a sorry campaign from the most successful side in IPL history.
They have looked a shadow of their former selves, although some would argue that this season has been coming. In the past they have rarely looked like they have the strongest squad on paper but have been able to have incredible success due to a great team spirit, experienced older players and the brilliant leadership of MS Dhoni.
These days though those experienced players are no longer among the top echelon of T20 players and they can't rely on a 43-year-old Dhoni to continue to carry them by sheer force of personality. The auction turned out to be a poor one as well with the squad having a glaring lack of batting power in the middle order. CSK will be back but they may need another revamp at the next auction.
Who is Vaibhav Suryavanshi?
Suryavanshi became the youngest player bought in an IPL auction after being selected by Rajasthan Royals for £105,000.
His selection came just weeks after he smashed a 58-ball hundred for India U19s against Australia U19s in an unofficial Test in Chennai.
He has since hit U19 half-centuries against Sri Lanka and UAE, as well as 71 off 42 balls for Bihar against Broda in India's domestic 50-over competition.
Being born in 2011, he also created another record by becoming the first IPL cricketer born after the tournament began in 2008.
The previous youngest IPL debutant was Prayas Rai Burman, who featured in 2019 at 16 years and 154 days for Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's Mujeeb Ur Rahman is the youngest international cricketer in the IPL, debuting at 17 in 2018 for Punjab Kings.
Watch every match from the 2025 IPL live on Sky Sports Cricket, up to and including the final on Sunday May 25.
