Teen blaster hits IPL ton

A 14-year-old Indian boy is creating a huge stir in cricket circles after becoming the youngest batsman to score a century in first-class cricket.

 Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s entry to the Indian Premier League has been sensational. He started his career with a six off the first ball he faced and went on to score a hundred in just his third appearance.

Batting for Rajasthan Royals against Gujarat Titans, he humiliated some of the world’s best bowlers in a sizzling 38-ball innings that included 11 sixes and seven fours.

Born in Samastipur, a small district in India’s Bihar, he quickly showed potential. Vaibhav’s father, Sanjeev Suryavanshi, himself a club-level cricketer, saw a spark in his son. But there were no proper academies around the district, so he started his training at home from the age of five.

Sanjeev, who used to run a small shop, soon realised his son needed a better coach. So when Vaibhav turned eight, his father decided to take him to Patna city, a three-hour journey away.

Vaibhav impressed his new coaches immediately. He practised daily from 7.30am to 4pm, facing 450 balls. By the time he was 12, his coaches were confident enough he should turn professional.

He played for the Bihar under-19s team and amassed runs, prompting selectors to name him in the India Under-19s team. Aged just 13, he smashed a 58-ball hundred in a youth Test against Australia.

He was soon drafted into Bihar’s squad for the Ranji Trophy (India’s premier first-class tournament) before becoming the youngest player to get a contract at the IPL auction as Rajasthan signed him for $110,000 in December 2024.

“Vaibhav’s role model is Brian Lara, so his game is aggressive, and he plays the ball on merit without any fear at all,” his coach Manish Ojha said. 

Almost half of the runs Suryavanshi has scored in the IPL (46%) have come through the mid-wicket and long-on region. He is particularly savage against pace bowling, scoring more than 100 runs at a strike-rate of 243 in this season’s IPL against the quicker men.

Suryavanshi has already been nicknamed Boss Baby in cricketing circles by those who see comparisons with Chris Gayle, aka The Universe Boss.

West Indian Gayle still holds the record for the fastest IPL century, having taken just 30 balls in 2013.

Sachin Tendulkar - the greatest run-scorer of all time - made his India debut aged just 16, and Suryavanshi’s former coach believe he will soon follow ‘The Little Master’ into the national team.