Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made his international debut earlier this month in England and, in just over 20 days into his career, already has two T20I fifties, the second of which came against Zimbabwe on Sunday.
The left-hander’s 81 off 49 balls helped India post 192/5, a total that proved too much for Zimbabwe.
India’s head coach for the tour, VVS Laxman, spoke about when the 15-year-old was first identified and admitted that he had grown as a person over the last six months.
“I think we know Vaibhav very well. It was, I think, two and a half years ago that we first identified him, just before the 2024 Under-19 World Cup. He was part of the quadrangular series which happened in Vijayawada, and he was one of the top scorers for India B,” Laxman said after the match on Sunday.
“Since then, he has been there in various camps at the COE. Then he was the highest run-getter in the Under-19 World Cup. So we know him in and out. It’s not only the player, but we also know the person. When you know the person, really, from his point of view, what works for him and how do we prepare him so that he’s in the best frame of mind when he goes into a match is something which we try to do.”
“But what is really impressive is the way he’s evolved as a person. The maturity level, the understanding and the awareness over the last six months has actually skyrocketed. That’s why he’s been able to handle tough situations. He’s been able to perform under pressure against the best players. One of the areas in which we want him to get better in is his overall fitness. We have to also remember that he’s just 15 years old. He’s a very young boy.
“He himself wants to get better in every aspect of the game. If you see even today’s game, he was taking the hot spot. Even though he got injured, he still wanted to be on the field. But it was our physio who actually asked him to come out. So that’s the eagerness and the earnestness he has to contribute in every possible way to the team,” the former right-hander added.
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The 51-year-old praised Sooryavanshi for his innings on Sunday, highlighting the way in which he curbed his natural instincts and adapted to the slow nature of the surface.
“Very mature. And that’s what I really appreciate about Vaibhav. With each and every experience, each and every match, he understands, he assesses, and he gets better. I think he does a lot of review of each and every practice session, not only matches,” Laxman said.
“So today what you saw was a mature innings. Because it was a huge wicket compared to the wicket which we played the match on yesterday. The ball was stopping and coming; the wicket was slow. I thought today the Zimbabweans bowled well and had a plan to him. So he countered that plan. And it was a very, very mature knock from Vaibhav,” he added.
After enduring a barrage of short-pitched bowling on his debut tour of England, Sooryavanshi bounced back with two half-centuries in Zimbabwe. Laxman said that did not surprise him because the IPL had already prepared the teenager for high-pressure cricket.
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“I believe that any IPL match is equivalent to an international match. At the age of 14 or 15, when you’re playing an IPL match, either you can be overawed by the big occasion or absorb and embrace the pressure,” Laxman said.
“I think he’s taken the second option where he embraced the pressure. So I’m not at all surprised the way this series has gone. He was disappointed not to get a hundred. But we mentioned to him that it’s not going to be the first time or the last time he’ll get an opportunity to score a hundred.”
“He’s got a long career. He’s got the attitude and the mindset to get better each and every day. And I’m sure that he will just progress and break all the records at the international level. He’s got all the potential and the ability to do that,” he added.