For a 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi to find the long distances that he does with his ball-striking is astonishing enough. Jaws hit the ground when the southpaw, hailing from the cricketing backwater of Bihar, unleashed his untamed, precocious ability with a 35-ball century against Gujarat Titans in just his third IPL game last month.
Now, to add to the amazement, the teenager has revealed that there’s a more mellow side to his batting as well. On Tuesday, before Rajasthan Royals’ disappointing campaign wound up, he bided his time before switching gears on his way to a 33-ball 57 in a six-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
He faced just two balls in the first three overs as Yashasvi Jaiswal hogged most of the strike. Even at the seven-over mark, Suryavanshi had merely reached 12 off 10 deliveries. Yet, he didn’t succumb to adolescent impetuosity until his indiscretion against R. Ashwin in the 14th over. By then, RR was all but certain of victory.
Royals batting coach Vikram Rathour waxed lyrical about Suryavanshi’s knock, rating it even higher than the whirlwind century versus GT. “The ball was doing a bit, and he didn’t get on strike too much in the PowerPlay.
“But the kind of maturity and temperament he showed was really good,” the former India batting coach said at a post-match presser. “Today’s knock was even better because he showed a different side of his temperament and batting.”
RR deserves great credit for backing someone so young. For Rathour, all it took was one sighting of Suryavanshi to be convinced about the boy’s credentials. “Honestly, when I saw him for the first time, I was sold. Just with that downswing of his bat, he’s very unique. I haven’t seen something like that for a long time. He’s going to be a very special player,” the 56-year-old said.
