Former West Indies pacer Ian Bishop recalled bowling to a teenage Sachin Tendulkar in 1990 and how he “shocked the living daylights” out of him with a powerful hit and went to compare the legends’ exploits with those of 14-year-old sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) batter who became the youngest T20 centurion and fastest Indian with an Indian Premier League (IPL) century during the match against Gujarat Titans (GT) on Monday. Bishop, who took 279 scalps for WI between 1988-1998, was speaking in a video by ESPNCricinfo after Suryavanshi’s 35-ball century against GT.
During the conversation about Suryavanshi. Bishop recalled the 1990 tour match between India and Derbyshire during India’s tour to England on a bouncy Chesterfield wicket. During that match, Sachin scored a brilliant 105 during a chase of 236 runs and one of his notable hits included smashing Bishop’s ball for six. This left Bishop shocked as India were down 212/8 while chasing the target and he felt that Derbyshire had the game “sewn up”.
“I was playing for Derbyshire, and we were playing against India at Chesterfield. Never forgot it. We batted first, and we must have made… don’t know the exact numbers. Chesterfield bounces. You get in there, and it bounces. We were in the game, and this little…he was this high (gesturing with his hand), and he came into bat, faced a couple of balls, and I thought, okay, we have got this sewn up. The asking rate is a little challenging towards the end of the game, and this little kid cannot hit me anywhere. I ran up, and I made the mistake of bowling a little back of a length, thinking I’d talk him up and he hit me into a tree, way over deep mid-wicket, as far as I’ve ever been hit before. Sachin Tendulkar, age 17, shocked the living daylights out of an Ian Bishop in his pomp,” Bishop recalled in awe.
That tour was a turning point in Tendulkar’s career as he scored 245 runs in three innings and five matches, including his first-ever Test ton out of 51 at Manchester, helping India draw the match. He also scored a fifty in that match.
Later, speaking about Suryavanshi’s heroics, Bishop said that he is even younger than what Sachin was while facing Bishop and must have shocked a world-class GT bowling line-up. It was indeed the case as Suryavanshi’s 38-ball 101 consisting of seven fours and 11 sixes and his 166-run stand with Yashasvi Jaiswal (70*) helped RR make a quick snack out of a tough target of 210 runs, chasing it down in 15.5 overs.
“This kid here is even younger. He’s 14 years old, taking on world-class bowlers. That must have shocked the living daylights out of Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj and all the rest,” he said.
Further speaking on his ton, Bishop said, “It’s hard to really speak logic to this. I do not care what GT served up with the ball on a platter, the kid is 14 years old! He demolished what was served to him tonight. You can take nothing away. Going forward, [we can ask] how do they come at him in the next game, how does he counter what’s going to be thrown at him, but for tonight, I do not care whether [the bowlers] served him oranges.
The biggest night of Suryavanshi’s career so far witnessed him break several records:
-Vaibhav reached his century in 35 balls, which is the second-fastest century in the history of the IPL, below Chris Gayle‘s 30-ball ton against now-defunct Pune Warriors India for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) back in 2013. Vaibhav is now also the fastest Indian to score a century in the IPL.
-The left-hander, at the age of 14 years and 32 days, is the youngest player to score a century in T20 cricket history, surpassing Vijay Zol, who was 18 years and 118 days old while scoring a century for Maharashtra against Mumbai in 2013.
-This is also the seventh-fastest century in T20 cricket, with the fastest one belonging to Sahil Chauhan of Estonia against Cyprus in 2024, coming in just 27 balls.
-Suryavanshi also reached his fifty in just 17 balls, the fifth-fastest in league history, making him the youngest ever to score an IPL fifty.
-94 of Suryavanshi’s runs came through boundaries, with seven fours and 11 sixes included. 93% boundary percentage is the highest in any century in IPL’s history.
-Also, Vaibhav tied with former Indian batter Murali Vijay for most sixes by an Indian in an IPL innings, 11 each, with most sixes overall being hit by Gayle during his iconic 175* against Pune Warriors India, which included 17 maximums.
-Also, the 166-run stand between Vaibhav and Yashasvi Jaiswal is the highest partnership for any wicket for Rajasthan Royals, surpassing 155 by Jos Buttler & Devdutt Padikkal against DC at the Wankhede in 2022.
-Suryavanshi also took just three innings to reach his maiden IPL ton, outdoing Punjab Kings (PBKS) batters Priyansh Arya and Paul Valthaty, who took four innings, as per Wisden.com.
Vaibhav has now made 151 runs in three matches at an average of 75.50 and a strike rate of 222.05, with the best score of 101* in the IPL 2025.
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