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Sanju Samson shared how 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi proved him wrong in the IPL.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi has become the talk of the town since his record-breaking hundred in the IPL (Picture credit: AP)
Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson has revealed how Vaibhav Suryavanshi shocked him with his batting in the IPL. Samson recalled how once he saw the 14-year-old hit a six and thought to himself that the ‘little guy got lucky’, and it didn’t take long for him to understand that it was far from luck.
Suryavanshi became the youngest cricketer to play in the IPL and score a century this 2025 season. He got the chance in the team because Samson got injured midway through the group stage; otherwise, it always seemed like the Royals planned to protect him from the limelight a bit more.
Suryavanshi scored 252 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of 206.55, which won him the Super Striker of the season award, despite RR failing to qualify for the playoffs.
“Yeah, I saw him hit one for a six. I was thinking that the little guy got lucky, but it kept on going. The quality of the shots also really shocked me,” Samson admitted to Ravichandran Ashwin on the latter’s YouTube show, Kutti Stories With Ash.
Ashwin had a story of his own to add, saying that during a match between RR and Chennai Super Kings in Delhi, Suryavanshi’s technique and maturity made the spinner a bit existential.
“It’s not so much about his hitting. I bowled one ball from around the stumps. He hit that to the covers, and then I bowled it slow to see if he would go big. But he just waited for the ball and just screamed towards mid-on for a single. I was thinking, what the hell, where did this kid come from, and he’s 14 years old. I made my debut 18 years ago in the IPL. He was not even in the imagination of his parents… That was quite crazy,” Ashwin said.
And Samson and Ashwin weren’t the only players in awe either.
“I saw Jos Buttler talking to Jofra Archer about it. About how it was to get smashed around by a 14-year-old in the nets,” Ashwin said.
Suryavanshi has carried the form to India’s under-19 teams and will almost certainly be retained by the franchise before IPL 2026.
A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses, features, live scores, results, stats and everything that’s cricket from all over the globe. Follow @cricketnext
A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses, features, live scores, results, stats and everything that’s cricket from all over the globe. Follow @cricketnext
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