Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has made a point — let us resolve to leave him alone

When Mahendra Singh Dhoni was starting out as an India player, he had a favour to ask of the media. Please don’t rush to my parents’ house every time I score some runs, he pleaded. It is difficult to say which comes first, the public’s obsessive interest in a player or the media’s creation of that obsession. To remain a public figure and yet retain privacy is a delicate balancing act.

Sachin Tendulkar managed it well. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, younger when making his international debut, should steel himself (as his family must too) for the invasions that will surely follow. Yes, the public has a right to know (the usual argument), and yes the media only give the public what it wants. But at 15, Sooryavanshi is hardly in a position to resist even if he had the tools or knew the tricks.

He has made his point, winning the player-of-the-series award after India’s victory in Zimbabwe. Turns out, he is what everyone had expected: a potentially great white-ball player, a six-hitter in a game that is judged by six-hitting abilities, a match-winner, a bowling-killer. He is yet to shed his puppy fat, yet seems to know his game with a thoroughness that is almost frightening in someone so young. Where does he go from here?

He has made his point, letting the nay-sayers know that he is not too young for international cricket; he is at home in its atmosphere. Now we have an obligation — let’s leave him alone, and sit back to watch his progress over the next couple of decades. Fans are rarely given an opportunity to watch a player grow from his teens to his thirties on a live stage. A front-row seat, too, that should not be abused by reaching out to touch the actor performing.

Break all records

“He will break all the records at international level,” said India’s coach in Zimbabwe V.V.S. Laxman, who has broken a few himself and watched Tendulkar do so too, so he knows a thing or two. And when he says he is impressed by the boy’s maturity and ability to handle pressure we are doubly assured.

Given the manner in which the white ball game grew out of the rib of red ball cricket, it is not surprising that the great players in one format, the top scorers, the bowlers with most wickets are the all-format champions. The game is yet to see an exclusively white ball great, although some may be emerging from the West Indies and Afghanistan.

It’s too early for Sooryavanshi to have to make the choice now, but will he be satisfied to finish as a white ball great or extend his grasp to include Test cricket too? Cricket is at a stage when format-specialisation (however inelegant the term) is not just a possibility but one likely to be encouraged.

Sooryavanshi might not be ready for Test cricket just yet, but such is his talent that the possibility is ever present.

When Tendulkar, at 16, made his Test debut in Pakistan, the prevailing wisdom was that you didn’t play a green Test player in a one-day match because the latter was bad company to keep for one so young. Then Tendulkar set the Peshawar stadium afire striking leg spinner Abdul Qadir for sixes at will (he scored 28 runs in one over) in an exhibition game, and there was no holding him back.

Sooryavanshi might have to do the reverse — keep his six-hitting in check and demonstrate how good his defence is!

Increased pressure

The cricket world is in for a treat, however you look at it. The pressures on a young Sooryavanshi will be far greater than on a young Tendulkar was, simply because of social media and instant criticism without cause.

Dealing with trolls, making the right choices, handling sponsors and advertisers are some of the off-field challenges ahead. The Board of Control for Cricket in India does not have a mentoring system, nor is there a proper players’ association which can bring its experience to bear upon these issues.

It was good of the cricket board to let his parents travel for matches with Sooryavanshi. All of us have a responsibility. After all, it takes a village…