Most 14-year-olds today are stuck, glued onto their screens and tumbling down the depths of social media – Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok. One 14-year-old, however, is spear-heading the movement teenagers fighting against the labels commonly given to them of lazy, overly relaxed and obnoxious. 

 

 

Vaibhav Suryavanshi has burst onto the Indian Premier League scene, breaking records and dominating headlines as the youngest player in the world-renowned cricket league. 

In his most recent match, playing for Rajasthan Royals, he hit a record-breaking century, scoring 101 runs off just 35 balls. 

He did not just become the youngest player to score a century in the IPL but also scored the second fastest century in the league, second only to Chris Gayle’s century off 30 balls in 2013. 

Suryavanshi blew up the cricket world after being bought by Rajasthan Royals in an auction last year, for just under £105,000. Perhaps unsurprisingly for his talent and ability, he introduced himself to the world on his debut against Lucknow Super Giants on the 19th of April, hitting a six on his first ball.  

Having devoted his life to cricket, Suryavanshi has been displaying signs of promise for years. 

At the age of just 12, he made his debut at state level for Bihar, playing in five Ranji trophy matches (domestic first-class competition), and has scored a triple century in the U19 competition in Bihar, the Randhir Verma trophy. 

 Perhaps most impressively, he represented India at the under-19 level, playing in the Asia cup and scoring 176 runs. 

Suryavanshi has added his name to the long list of promising young talents in cricket.  

At 16, Sachin Tendulkar, often hailed the greatest cricketer of all time, made his debut for the Indian National Test match team, and developed into the cricket legend we know and love.  

Suryavanshi can certainly aspire to reach legendary status of Indian cricket like other young players had gone on to do, however, it is important that he does not fly too high to the sun, as others have done in the past. 

Prithvi Shaw, for example, was pledged to become India’s next big star, and his career path eerily mirrors  that of Suryavanshi, having made headlines at 14 for achieving the highest score in school cricket, later playing for India U-19 in the Asia Cup and making his test debut in India in 2018.  

Shaw, however, certainly did not live up to expectations, and was even handed a 4-month suspension in 2019 for breaking anti-doping regulations. 

In spite of this, Vaibhav Suryavanshi has proved to the world that young people, despite their supposed inexperience with the world, are able to achieve extraordinary feats, if the effort and commitment is put into what you love. 

For millions of young children, particularly in India, Suryavanshi is clear evidence that they too can become stars of the sport they adore and inspires them not to limit their dreams.  

At fourteen years old, this boy has written his name into the books of history. 

What were you doing at 14?