Courtesy: ACC/X
Vaibhav Suryavanshi, 13, who shot to fame after being signed by Rajasthan Royals for INR 1.10 Crore in the IPL 2025 mega auction, showcased his talent in the Indian colours during their U19 Asia Cup 2024 clash against Japan at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. The teenage sensation smashed a few lusty blows during his short stay at the crease at the top of the order, scoring 23 runs in 23 balls, an innings which included three fours and one maximum, to set-up a good platform for India, who went onto score 339/6 in their allotted 50 overs.
While Vaibhav Suryavanshi could only score at run-a-ball in the first power play stage, it was his ability to strike the ball crispy on both sides of the wicket, either on the ground or over the top, which stood out the most. The Japanese bowlers were quite impressive in terms of keeping the ball away from the slot during most of the left-handed batter’s innings, but still, he managed to pierce the field for a few fours and struck a big six as well.
Watch the video of crisp strokeplay from Vaibhav Suryavanshi here:
Vaibhav Suryavanshi scored only one off nine against Pakistan in U19 Asia Cup 2024
Earlier, in the first match of the U19 Asia Cup 2024, a restless Vaibhav Suryavanshi scored just one run in nine balls against Pakistan, but it wasn’t the case in his recent outing versus Japan. Moreover, the top performers in the Indian batting innings was the captain Mohamed Amaan, who scored an unbeaten 122 in 118 with seven fours, while the likes of Ayush Mhatre and KP Karthikeya scored boundary laden fifties at better than a run-a-ball.
In pursuit of the 340-run target, Japan were never quite in the hunt for a win as their batters weren’t able to get on top of the Indian bowlers at any stage despite not losing wickets at regular intervals. The batting lineup of Japan played out the entirety of the 50 overs, scoring 128/8 with Hugo Kelly’s 50 off 118 and Charles Hinze’s 35* off 68, to suffer a 211-run defeat after Chetan Sharma, Hardik Raj, and KP Karthikeya picked up a couple of wickets each.
