With Shubman Gill ‘dancing at Arjun Tendulkar’s wedding’, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi talked up for India T20Is: ‘Get him in’

The legendary English trio thinks Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is totally out of the ordinary, and he could have been part of India's T20 World Cup squad.

Updated on: Feb 19, 2026, 20:34:37 IST

Written by Prateek Srivastava

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In a matter of months, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has caught the imagination of fans and cricket experts alike. England cricketer Jos Buttler recently said the 14-year-old Indian ‘has to be’ the greatest batsman he has ever seen, for the impossible batting talent that he brings to the table. Understandably so, Buttler was behind the wicket when Sooryavanshi last year smashed a 35-ball hundred for the Rajasthan Royals against his team Gujarat Titans, in the Indian Premier League last year. All thanks to his knock, the Titans ended up on the losing side despite scoring a big total.

At the age of just 14, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is the talk of the town for his dream batting skills. (AFP Images)

Former England captains Michael Vaughan and Alastair Cook, and spinner Phil Tufnell too have now showed their admiration for Sooryavanshi. Late last year, Sooryavanshi, in Bihar colours against Arunachal Pradesh, became the youngest to score a List-A hundred in men's cricket (190 runs in just 84 balls), and his legend has understandably grown immeasurably there on. And then earlier this month in the Under-19 World Cup final, Sooryavanshi scored 175 off just 80 balls to totally push England out of the contest. Honestly, who can blame the English trio for being awe-struck like Buttler.

“With Shubman dancing, Sooryavanshi could have been lobbed into the WC T20 squad”

“I saw Jos Buttler say that he [Sooryavanshi] has got to be the greatest player he has even seen. He is just 14 and has got a List A hundred to his name, “Vaughan said, completely awestruck before Cook threw in: “And he is the youngest cricketer ever to score a List A hundred,” and continued, “I didn’t see his T20 hundred but I saw his other hundred and I was thinking he was just going to back away and hack it. Very strong. He has got this unbelievable bat speed. I saw this English guy bowl to him back of a length on the fourth stump [referring to the under-19 World Cup match] and it was not a bad ball. He hit it just like that over point.”

Tufnell then playfully said Sooryavanshi could have been in India’s side for the ongoing T20 World Cup. “Get him in there”, he said and got an instant “yes” from Cook. Cook, a recipient of the prestigious Knighthood in 2019, let out his surprise that even the dangerous Yashasvi Jaiswal wasn’t in the squad.

Upon which Vaughan said chuckling: “Shubman Gill also didn’t get in that squad. Shubman is partying, dancing at Arjun Tendulkar’s [pre-wedding celebrations]. Jaiswal can’t even get in, so, Indians could have lobbed this guy [Sooryavanshi] right into the T20 World Cup and he would not have disappointed for sure.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prateek Srivastava
Prateek Srivastava is a senior sports journalist having been in the profession for two decades now. He started his print career with the India Today Group and later also worked for the Asian Age. In 2009, sensing the wind of change, he switched to the digital media and joined Mobile ESPN. There, he covered the 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2010 Hockey World Cup as a venue reporter. He did plenty of voice-over work too, over there. After leaving Mobile ESPN, Prateek went on to work for Cricketnext, Gocricket and Cricbuzz. At Gocricket (Times Internet Limited), he covered the 2014 T20 World from Bangladesh. There he also received a team leadership award, given at the end of the month. Prateek has also covered the 2016 T20 World Cup in India, this time working for Sportz Interactive. He also worked for Chinese giants Alibaba over two years and led their ""Short News"" content team at UC Browser. While cricket is Prateek’s expertise, he has also done a lot of golf. In fact, he has covered India’s first two European Tour events back in the late noughties. He has also done extensive writing on football having been associated with the Indian Super League for three seasons. Finally, Prateek is a literature aficionado and swears by Philip Roth and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and when he doesn’t joke, he is usually quiet and at work.Read More

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