Vaibhav Sooryavanshi gestures after scoring 50 runs during the third T20 cricket match between Zimbabwe and India
| Photo Credit: AP
India spin legend Harbhajan Singh says Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s audacious strokeplay is unparalleled in international cricket and any bowler looking to stop the 15-year-old will have to adopt an aggressive approach as containing him is not an option.
Harbhajan believes Sooryavanshi is capable of sowing doubt in the mind of a bowler despite his tender age and low experience.
“Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is extraordinary. He is a unique player. I have not seen a player like him before, one who can dominate the world at 14-15 years of age,” Harbhajan told PTI in a podcast interview.
The teenager became the youngest player in IPL history when he made his Rajasthan Royals debut at 14 in 2025 and soon after became the youngest batter to score a century in men’s T20 cricket, smashing a 35-ball hundred against Gujarat Titans.
His remarkable rise continued this year as he became the youngest player ever to make an international debut for India when he played against England at Old Trafford at the age of 15 years and 99 days.
Sooryavanshi blasted 175 off 80 balls against England in the Under-19 World Cup final, the highest individual score in the history of the tournament’s finals, and was named Player of the Tournament as India lifted the title.
During the IPL earlier this year, the Rajasthan Royals prodigy famously greeted world-class premier pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Pat Cummins by dispatching their very first deliveries to him for sixes
“When the world’s top bowlers are bowling to him, they are actually thinking about where to bowl. That itself is a big, big statement,” Harbhajan said.
So how does one bowl to someone who refuses to be overawed by the bowler’s name, the occasion or the field? “The only way to survive is to attack him. You go at him and you take his wicket,” Harbhajan said.
“It may not work all the time. Sometimes you might even get smashed. He would’ve hit sixes. But that is part of the game. You have to accept that he’s good.” Asked how he would bowl to Sooryavanshi in a powerplay situation, the former India spinner said, “I won’t set the field according to what he’s doing. I’ll set the field according to what I’m doing. If I bowl to escape, I won’t be able to get him out.
“You go at him and you take his wicket. You might get success, you might not. That’s just a matter of time. You have to accept that he’s good.
“But still, the next ball should be about how to get him out,” Harbhajan said.
Published – August 14, 2026 01:38 pm IST
