Rajasthan Royals batter Vaibhav Suryavanshi impressed one and all with his senational century against Gujarat Titans in their IPL 2025 match at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur late April. He smashed the ton in 35 balls, becoming the fastest Indian to achieve the feat in IPL history. The southpaw scored 101 runs off 38 balls with the help of 7 fours as many as 11 sixes. It was a wonderful knock from Suryavanshi and that left the cricketing world in awe of his brilliance. The knock from the 14-year-old batter came in just his fourth appearance in the T20 tournament.
While the entire cricket world was busy in heaping praises on the southpaw, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar advised not to praise the batter too much and let him learn and play his game.
Notably, Suryavanshi hogged limelight after being bought by Rajasthan Royals for a massive sum of Rs 1.1 crore at IPL 2025 auction held in November last year. He was 13 years old back then.
“Not at all, not at all. I mean, look – when he entered the auction, he had already scored a hundred against Australia in a youth Test, and that was against a pretty good attack. For a 13-year-old to score a hundred against an international team, albeit not their top side, still shows the lad had talent. And he has just gone on and on from there,” Gavaskar told JioStar during the RR vs Mumbai Indians match on Thursday.
“I think he’s going to develop his game even more. Sitting with Rahul Dravid, he will learn how to temper his innings – he is only going to get better and better. I do believe that he is someone we shouldn’t praise to the skies.
“And in this case, we just get the feeling, even in his very first game, with the first ball he faced, he hit it for six. Now, that should not become something he feels he must live up to every time. Experienced bowlers will think, ‘Ah, he wants to hit the first ball for six?’ They will bowl it short, and then he might get out. Then, he could start to worry and overthink things.
“But really, anyone who scores 50 or 60 in a T20 match has done well. To get a hundred at this level is absolutely magnificent, especially against the quality of bowlers he’s facing today – literally some of the best in the world,” Gavaskar added.
Gavaskar’s advice turned out to be right as Suryavanshi fell for a two-ball duck during RR’s match vs MI at Jaipur. Deepak Chahar bowled a fuller delivery and Suryavanshi smashed it right into the hands of the fielder at mid-on.
Topics mentioned in this article
