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Of those two teenagers, one is India’s 14-year-old batting sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi, and the other one is 19-year-old South African batter Lhuan-dre Pretorius.
Ex-Australian all-rounder includes 2 RR stars in his list of top-3 teenagers in world cricket. (Picture Credit: PTI, Somerset County Cricket Club, Sportzpics)
Former all-rounder Kerry O’Keeffe, who played 24 Tests and two ODIs for Australia from January 1971 to August 1977, included two players from Rajasthan Royals’ IPL 2025 squad in his list of top-three teenagers in world cricket. Of those two teenagers, one is India’s 14-year-old batting sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi, and the other one is 19-year-old South African batter Lhuan-dre Pretorius.
Pretorius was signed by Rajasthan Royals as a replacement for Nitish Rana, and the young left-handed wicketkeeper-batter played one match for the Sanju Samson-led side in the world’s richest franchise cricket league this year.
Overall, he has played two Tests and seven T20Is for the Proteas and has one century and one fifty to his name in Test cricket and one half-century in T20Is.
Kerry was impressed with Pretorius’s batting in the second T20I of the ongoing three-match series between South Africa and Australia. During the match played at Marrara Cricket Ground in Darwin on Tuesday (August 12), where the 19-year-old scored 10 runs from 10 balls, which included one six off Glenn Maxwell’s batting, Kerry, while commentating, said, “He asked me to name the best three teenagers in world cricket at the moment, and I had a look at a few of them, and I had Pretorius inside the trifecta behind Suryavanshi – the 14-year-old Indian – and Thomas Rew – the 17-year-old Englishman. When I watch tapes of Lhuan-dre Pretorius, I think he’s inside the top three. When he’s going, it’s a sight.”
The third player in Kerry’s list is 17-year-old English batter Thomas Rew. Rew has played four List A matches so far and has scored 181 runs. His batting average is 60.33, and his strike rate is 93.29.
Suryavanshi’s record in IPL
14-year-old Suryavanshi was signed for Rs 1.10 crore by RR in the IPL 2025 mega auctions, and he made his IPL debut against Lucknow Super Giants in Jaipur on April 19. In his first-ever match, he opened his account by hitting six on the first ball of his innings bowled by Shardul Thakur. In his third match, which was played against Gujarat Titans at Sawai Mansingh Stadium on April 28, Suryavanshi scored a century in just 35 balls. He overall played seven matches in IPL 2025 and, with the help of one century and one half-century, scored 252 runs.
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