How Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, 15, became the great sporting prodigy of this generation

So began the elite career of a kid who, for many, is the greatest sporting prodigy of this generation.

Perhaps any.

“Truly God’s gift to Indian cricket,” was the description Sunil Gavaskar — a great of the sport — has given to Sooryavanshi, whose cherubic face belies the ferociousness with which he has been striking the ball in the glitzy, pressure-filled environs of the Indian Premier League over the past year.

In his recently completed first full IPL campaign, he finished as the top run scorer, hit a record number of sixes and was voted the MVP. Among his prizes was a car, which, of course, he cannot legally drive for three years.

Now aged 15, likened to India cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and chased by sponsors wanting a piece of cricket’s — sport’s? — Next Big Thing, Sooryavanshi is going international.

On Friday, the left-handed opening batter will become the youngest ever player in India’s senior men’s team — 15 years, 91 days — if, as expected, he is picked for the first of two Twenty20 internationals against Ireland in Belfast.

Then comes five T20s in England, where the glare on Sooryavanshi will be even fiercer.

Expect him to take it all in stride.

Last month, former England captain Michael Vaughan told the story of when he bumped into Boy Wonder ahead of an IPL match this season and told him how much he admired the way he plays.

“I said, ‘How do you prepare for matches?’” Vaughan recounted on the “Stick to Cricket” show. “And he went, ‘Watching cartoons.’ I said, ‘What do you eat?’ He went, ‘Everything.’

“There’s the modern player: Watch a cartoon, eat what you want, smack it out of the ground.”

A million-dollar deal at age 13

Sooryavanshi hails from Tajpur, a small agricultural town in the northern state of Bihar between the Ganges River and the border of Nepal.

His father, Sanjiv, was a cricket lover and he gave his middle son of three a bat at the age of 4. By the time he was 10, Vaibhav had been making early morning trips to a Next Gen academy around 100 kilometers away and his prodigious talent was clear, especially the way he hit the ball so fiercely and cleanly and with such a high back-lift that it reminded onlookers of West Indies great Brian Lara.

Sooryavanshi made his debut in elite senior cricket at age 12 — for Bihar in the Ranji Trophy — and, at 13, became the youngest player to get an IPL deal when Rajasthan Royals bought him for the 2025 season for $1.1 million.

His first IPL shot — that mighty six over extra cover off India fast bowler Shardul Thakur — underlined his status as the next Tendulkar, as did a 35-ball century, which was the second-fastest in IPL history, in his third match.

A star was born.

A technique that makes it look ‘effortless’

Watch Sooryavanshi — thick set with strong arms and a side-parting in his dark hair — and what immediately stands out is his uncanny ability to strike the ball hard and far, wherever it is bowled at him.

It’s down to a technique that typically sees him get back and across in his crease, dip his shoulder, deliver a high back-lift — just like Lara — at a 45-degree angle, keep his arms away from his body and, with remarkably coiled wrists, follow through with a shot generating enormous power.

Mark King, a professor of sports biomechanics at Loughborough University who has worked on projects with the England and Wales Cricket Board, noted how Sooryavanshi “uses his body maximally” by using his core to generate hand speed and therefore speed of the bat.

King said that from the clips he has seen, Sooryavanshi’s technique evokes comparisons with Lara, another West Indies great in Viv Richards and former England captain Jos Buttler: “Those really skilled people that seem to be effortless.”

The kid is making the world’s best fast bowlers look silly, including smashing Jasprit Bumrah and Pat Cummins for six off the first delivery of their spells in the IPL.

“He'll wait for a ball at 90 mph,” former England test captain Alastair Cook said, “and then react to it and still hit it for six so cleanly. That’s what’s unusual about him.”

A record-breaker who wants to ‘dominate for 10-20 years’

After being named MVP in the IPL, Sooryavanshi said in an in-house interview by Rajasthan that he wanted to play all three formats — T20, 50-over and test — for India "in such a way that I should not just play but dominate for 10-20 years.”

Big words, and he's backing them up.

In February, he helped India to the trophy in the Under-19 World Cup, smashing 175 off 80 balls in the final against England — the highest individual score in any ICC global tournament final.

Playing for India A on Sunday, he brought up a half-century in 11 balls — the fastest ever fifty in 50-over cricket, according to the BBC — in a knock of 94 off 29 balls against Sri Lanka A featuring just one dot ball.

If he’s picked against Ireland on Friday, Sooryavanshi will be the youngest player in a top-tier men’s T20, breaking the record of Ireland’s Joshua Little (16 years, 309 days). Tendulkar was 16 years, 205 days when he made his test debut in 1989, then made his ODI debut 33 days later.

There’s been only one younger player than Sooryavanshi in men's international cricket and that’s Hasan Raza, who was 14 years, 227 days when he made his test debut for Pakistan in 1996.

In 2020, the International Cricket Council set the minimum age of 15 for players to compete internationally.

Off the field, Sooryavanshi’s age prevents him from taking up certain sponsorship opportunities, like with gambling firms, but experts still believe his marketing potential is huge. Dan Plumley, senior lecturer in sport finance at Loughborough University, pointed to the teenager being an ambassador for nutritional health drink Complan as evidence of him being able to partner with “brands aiming at a more health-conscious generation.”

“What’s really fascinating from a wider perspective,” Plumley added, “is he’s got the ability to bring younger generations of people into a sport they might not necessarily have been interested in.”

Comaneci, Pele and other sporting prodigies

It's rare for someone to be this good at such a young age in an elite-level team sport.

Pelé was the star player at age 17 for Brazil in its World Cup-winning campaign in 1958, while Lamine Yamal starred for Spain as a 16 year old at the 2024 European Championship.

In individual sports, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci was aged 14 when she became the first person in Olympic history to score a perfect 10 to win the all-around at the 1976 Montreal Games and American diver Marjorie Gestring was an Olympic gold medalist at 13.

In tennis, Jennifer Capriati started competing in professional events at 13 and was Olympic singles champion at 16, while Martina Hingis and Monica Seles won grand slam singles titles at age 16.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket