No longer a novelty, Sooryavanshi takes over

It was April 30, 2025. The sun was on its way down, clocking its last few minutes of duty for the day when Trent Boult entered a black-dressed tent serving as a makeshift press conference room in Jaipur. He was back to donning the Mumbai Indians blue, a jersey he had traded for the Rajasthan Royals' pink for three years till then. As obvious queries around 'welcome back, you must be familiar with the conditions' passed on, the conversation ended with a light-humoured question, with ample hints of truth coded in it, shifting the limelight from the veteran on his homecoming to a teen prodigy who had become the star attraction in that home.

"For the likes of you and Bumrah, who have achieved so much in world cricket, after all these years of success, what does it feel like to now be sitting and plotting the dismissal of a 14-year-old?"

Boult got the humour of the question, and in an immediate response chuckled and stated "that's actually funny". But soon enough he also got into the practical explanation of it to keep the hype around Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who has just cracked the fastest century in the history of IPL, in check.

"(I have) bowled to some brilliant batsmen around the world, the Chris Gayles, the AB de Villiers, all the quality that come in these tournaments," he said. "I think I'll be careful not to say I'm worried about a 14-year-old, but it's going to be an exciting challenge to come up against a guy who's obviously fearless and running in hot form at the moment. So that's what it's about."

A day later, two balls into the game, Sooryavanshi mistimed a big swing through mid on, and was caught for a second-ball duck. The young batter was back in the dugout even before Boult or Bumrah could get a shot at him, The fuss for the day at least, had fizzled, leaving the accomplished bowlers to rest their attention on the big boys.

What Boult and Bumrah didn't get to evidence that day, was on offer less than a year later, after the romance and frustration of the rain had subsided, and the business of the big boys was underway in Guwahati.

, Sooryavanshi was 15, and someone already to 'worry about'. He had given enough evidence that he was more than a flash in the pan, and big-stage ready, placing his name at the top of more explosive-lists than not of IPL. The conversations even in the MI meeting rooms had firmly moved on ways to control that teenager.

Bumrah, after Deepak Chahar was whacked around for 22 runs in the opening over, got the first crack at Sooryavanshi. And so did Sooryavanshi get his first crack at the world's greatest. This wasn't a chance encounter; it was planned between the Royals openers: For Jaiswal to handle Chahar, and Sooryavanshi to take on Bumrah.

Result? A first-ball flick over long on, deposited outside the boundary, to get off the mark.

Just to make sure this wasn't some fluke-hit to a delivery pitched in the slot, three balls later, he swivel-pulled the pacer deep into the stands at backward square leg.

Boult didn't have it any different. He missed a yorker and was duly whipped over backward square leg for a six as a welcome-look. Respect for Bumrah and Boult's art could wait another day; it was time for Sooryavanshi to stamp his authority on the game, if not just catch-up with the pace of his opening partner.

It was also a good reminder for Boult that in all likelihood, maybe even the Gayles and the de Villiers weren't as dismissive and unwelcoming off the first balls as frequently.

To be fair, the occasion was ripe for Sooryavanshi to not care less for the first ball. A long spell of rain had delayed the start, and reduced the contest to a 11-over-a-side affair. Mumbai had already seized the toss advantage, and the onus was on Royals to pile on a big total to keep it away from their reach. Not that Sooryavanshi needed an invitation to be in an ultra-aggressive hitting-mode, but none of his attempted hits could have been a 'wrong choice', even if it would leave many questioning 'just how did he do it!'.

For a good while, he smashed the ball around like it was a free range hitting session, bringing out Rohit Sharma's exasperation, and getting Bumrah and Hardik to scurry to the bowlers with new plans. All of this came on a day when Mumbai Indians unleashed five of their pace options in the first overs, each of them with international experience. Yet, for all their pace, guile and experience, only thrice did they deliver the ball on the line of stumps to Sooryavanshi, uncertain if they could knock him over.

They preferred resorting to the defensive, trying to cramp him for room or forcing him to manufacture shots on the offside, negating the effect of his powerful hip rotation and bat-swing.

Mahela Jayawardene, the MI head coach, criticized his team's poor execution with the ball for allowing Sooryavanshi and Jaiswal to get away with the early momentum, which included 80 runs within five overs, and set the tone for Royals' victory. Interestingly, Sooryavanshi's dismissal was to the most obvious plan: get the ball angling away from his arc, forcing him to manufacture a shot on the offside, with a fielder stationed there.

Sooryavanashi refused to get bogged down by their plans and eventually holed out to Tilak Varma in the battle of egos. However, before that, he clubbed 17 runs in four deliveries from Shardul Thakur. In his attempt to take on the fielder on at deep extra cover, he was caught, bringing an end to an entertainment that probably made up for the fans who braced through a long spell of rain.

Sooryavanshi's terror with the bat has almost pushed Jaiswal away from the limelight; the latter's destructive powers and consistency getting dwarfed. And it's no mean feat; Jaiswal has scored 1619 runs over the last three seasons, at a strike rate of over 160. Even this season, he has accumulated 170 runs across three innings at 163.46.

On Tuesday too, it was Jaiswal setting up the tempo. While Sooryavanshi was responding to Bumrah, Boult and Shardul, Jaiswal had smashed 37 runs off his first 11 deliveries, with a 22-run over against Deepak Chahar to set the pace of the innings. Jaiswal's scoring speed may have dipped a bit thereafter, but his 32-ball 77* remained instrumental in Royals securing their third successive win of the season.

At 24, Jaiswal is also just another high-performing young Indian opener. But as someone who is nearly a decade older than Sooryavanshi, he suddenly transforms into a 'senior' player in that opening setup, from literally another era. His gameplay has matured and more responsible, but in a positive way, Sooryavanshi's standards of taking apart bowlers has pushed Jaiswal to also level up.

"The way he has been playing, it's tremendous," Jaiswal confessed after the game against Mumbai Indians. "He's working so hard. So I also get motivated - okay, I also need to develop some different shots."

Mumbai Indians may have unleashed its strongest attack on Royals, but came undone in a matter of five overs against the explosive duo. Skipper Hardik Pandya and head coach Jayawardene both claimed that it was a matter of 5 balls that separated the two teams - five sixes which would've cleared the 27-run deficit between the sides and taken them over the line.

For as simplistic and easy as they made it sound, in reality, it is a massive margin in any T20 game, let alone a rain-shortened 66-balls-a-side-contest. The tone of the contest was set when Sooryavanshi was in the middle, and at no point thereafter did the five-time champions look in a position to challenge the target.

It was a comprehensive performance by Royals, led by Jaiswal's efforts with the bat. But yet again, Sooryavanshi stole the show - even if he got merely 14 balls to strike.

Sooryavanshi is no longer the promise of the future. He is the evidence of the present.

His capabilities are no longer underplayed.