Former Australia captain Steve Waugh shouldn’t be a non secular follower of the IPL. However when a precocious expertise like Vaibhav Suryavanshi bursts onto the scene, even the legendary Aussie batter can’t assist however sit up and take word.
Waugh expressed disbelief over seeing the 14-year-old’s impeccable timing and placing for the Rajasthan Royals this IPL version, however burdened that the dashing southpaw will bear the problem of preserving all that prodigious expertise below “management” over the forthcoming years.
If batting at 14 within the IPL wasn’t sufficient, Suryavanshi rewrote the document books when he walloped a 35-ball century in opposition to Gujarat Titans, the quickest hundred by an Indian within the league’s historical past.
“I watched that century and I simply couldn’t consider how properly he struck the ball and the way simple he was hitting the sixes and the way relaxed he was,” Waugh mentioned in a media interplay alongside Anil Kumble, Matthew Hayden and Robin Uthappa on ‘Australian Summer season of Cricket 2025-26′ organised by JioStar, Cricket Australia and the Australian Authorities.
“As a 14-year-old, he had no idea of stress…simply play with full freedom, in order that was nice to observe. I assume for him the problem will likely be to maintain it below management,” he added.
“Can he play the identical means with the identical enthusiasm, the identical freedom as he has performed this 12 months? That’ll be his problem,” he added.
“He’s obtained a number of ability, he’s mentally powerful and he’s obtained a terrific backstory, so that you need to see somebody like that achieve success. It’s a terrific story for cricket and for me watching from a great distance away,” Waugh mentioned referring to the well-documented accounts of his mother and father’ sacrifices to make sure his success.
Story continues beneath this advert
No Tendulkar comparisons
Waugh additionally cautioned in opposition to the inevitable obsession to attract teenage sensations to India’s legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who debuted in Assessments at 16 in 1989.
“I don’t assume you possibly can examine anybody to Sachin Tendulkar. I imply, a 16-year-old (18-year-old) popping out to Australia and scoring a century in Perth on the toughest, (the) most original pitch in world cricket the place most gamers actually battle to play on a pitch,” Waugh mentioned.
“…for him to attain a century as a teen in Perth was a freakish efficiency. It’s very uncommon you get a Sachin Tendulkar come alongside. However I might by no means have anticipated a 14-year-old to attain a 100 within the IPL, that was unthinkable,” Waugh added.
– With PTI inputs