NEW DELHI: Aged 13, Bihar’s Vaibhav Suryavanshi recently made history, becoming youngest player ever to be signed by an Indian Premier League franchise.
At the auction held last month in Jeddah, Rajasthan Royals made the surprise pick, shelling out Rs 1.10 crore for the prodigy.
The Royals, who won the inaugural title, have had the knack of picking up young talents and grooming them and Suryavanshi turns out to be the latest addition to the list, who will now have a mentor in legendary Rahul Dravid to learn intricacies of the game.
Skipper Sanju Samson recently revealed why the franchise went for Suryavanshi, highlighting that he himself is pretty excited to meet the teen sensation.
“I have seen his highlights. All of the people in the Rajasthan decision-making group saw him bat at the U19 Test match vs Australia in Chennai, where he scored a hundred of 60-70 balls. The shots that he played there, it felt like, that’s something special and we felt like we have to have those kind of individuals in the side and see where they go,” Sanju Samson told AB de Villiers in an interview.
“But Rajasthan Royals have a history of doing this. They find out talents and make them champions. For example, there is a Yashasvi Jaiswal who came to RR as a youngster and now is a rock star of the Indian team. There is Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel – they all fall under that line. I think RR loves that kind of thing – yes, we want to win the IPL, but we also want to make sure that we are giving enough champions to Indian cricket. It will be exciting to meet him,” Samson said.
At the auction, Suryavanshi’s base price was Rs 30 lakh and Delhi Capitals too went for him but the Royals eventually got the better of DC to get the player on board.
Suryavanshi made headlines recently when he became the youngest batter to score an international century, achieving the feat in a Youth Test for India Under-19 against Australia U-19 in Chennai.
Suryavanshi made his T20 and Ranji debut for Bihar this season.
He recently repersented India in the U19 Asia Cup where India lost to Bangladesh in the finale.