Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is cricket’s ‘Hulk’. The baby-faced cricket assassin may not look like Marvel’s green-skinned, monstrous superhero, but the way he smashes bowlers into a pulp with relentless savagery, he is Vaibhav ‘Hulk’ Sooryavanshi.
On Friday, in the U-19 World Cup final in Harare, Sooryavanshi played one of the most brutally brilliant knocks in recent times to help India lift the trophy for the record-extending sixth time, beating England by 100 runs.
After India posted a humongous 411/9 in 50 overs, the English team did put up a fight, but were nowhere close to the target as they got bowled out for 311 in 40.2 overs.
But all those numbers have been reduced to just academic interest, thanks to Sooryavanshi’s mind-numbing innings. The 14-year-old smashed 175 off just 80 balls. The Sooryavanshi storm saw 15 hits to the fence and an equal number over it. Some of his sixes did not just clear the ropes, they sailed over the Harare Sports Club stands.
Though the circumstances were entirely different, the innings of 175 was a reminder of Kapil Dev’s unbeaten knock in the 1983 World Cup, incidentally against Zimbabwe, that India went on to win.
Sooryavanshi’s effort stunned the cricket world, but this is not the first time that he has plundered such a loot.
In 2025, in his debut IPL, he smashed a 35-ball century for the Rajasthan Royals, in a match against the Gujarat Titans. He has been recording fat, fast knocks in U-19 and ‘A’ level cricket. But the audacity with which he pulled off his latest stunner in a World Cup final left his admirers in awe.
Virender Sehwag, one of the greatest exponents of modern-day aggressive cricket, described Sooryavanshi’s effort as “Blazing. Blinding. Unstoppable.” Irfan Pathan called him a “Big-match player”. To Michael Vaughan, this innings was “very, very, special”.
The others in the team made their contributions. Captain Ayush Mhatre scored a 51-ball 53, Abhigyan Kundu, the talented keeper-batter made a 31-ball 40, all-rounder Kanishk Chouhan hit a quickfire 37 not out off 20 balls and grabbed two wickets with the ball as well. But the fine team effort will get buried under the sheer
weight of Sooryavanshi’s brilliance when people talk about the match.
The youngster’s batting is usually an exhibition of his tremendous bat swing. But on Friday, he displayed several other shots from his arsenal. There was the cover drive, the lofted drive, the cheeky above-the-keeper tap. But the most special of them all were his flat-batted swats at a few short-of-length deliveries. Even the commentators wondered how he generated so much power in those shots where a batter is usually not in the best of positions.
The secret behind Sooryavanshi’s flamboyance may seem to be his out-of-the-world hand-eye coordination. But one feels the kid benefits most from his ability to pick the length of the ball very early. It gives him precious extra seconds to zero in on which shot he wants to play and where. The rest is pure talent.
For the record, the T20 World Cup begins on Saturday. This was just a good,
old 50-over game. Doesn’t make a difference to Sooryavanshi though.
Brief scores: India U-19 411/9 in 50 ovs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 175; James Minto 3/63). England U-19 311 in 40.2 ovs (Caleb Falconer 115; R. Ambrish 3/56, Kanishk Chouhan 2/63). India U-19 won by 100 runs. (Player of Match & Series: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi).
