Jaipur : 13 year old Vaibhav Suryavanshi from Bihar has become the youngest player to join any IPL team. He was bought by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 1 crore ten lakh. The base price of Suryavanshi in the auction was Rs 30 lakh on which Delhi Capitals made the first bid. Rajasthan has bought this player by defeating Delhi. Suryavanshi recently scored a century in the ‘Youth Test’ for India Under 19 team against Australia Under 19 team in Chennai and he also became the youngest player to achieve this feat. Suryavanshi had scored 104 runs in 62 balls in that match.
However, there was a controversy regarding Suryavanshi’s real age before his debut in Ranji Trophy in January this year. At that time, a video interview of his from last year went viral, in which he had said that he would turn 14 in September 2023. Suryavanshi was asked about his actual age, on which he said, “I will complete 14 years on 27 September 2023.” He played T20 cricket for Bihar on Saturday in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy against Rajasthan. Made his debut and scored 13 runs in six balls.
“We have no fear.”
Now his father Sanjeev has reacted on Vaibhav’s age. When asked about the controversies surrounding Vaibhav’s actual age, which many believe to be 15 years old, Sanjeev said, “He first joined the BCCI when he was eight and a half years old. He had already played India Under-19. If we want, we can get the age test done again for Bihar at the age of 12. Scored close to 400 runs in five matches while playing Mankad Trophy.
Still to show strength in first class!
Vaibhav has so far played five Ranji Trophy matches for his state Bihar, but the impact of his explosive innings in junior cricket, due to which he got a place in the team, was not visible in the initial matches. In five matches, Vaibhav has been able to score only 100 runs at an average of 10. His best score has been 41. In this he hit 18 fours and 2 sixes. It is clear that he is yet to make an impact but the encouragement he has received from Rajasthan Royals will definitely be visible in the Ranji Trophy matches.
