Former England captain Michael Vaughan called it “one of sport’s most remarkable stories”, while West Indies legend Ian Bishop branded it “otherworldly”, adding: “It’s hard to really speak logic to this.”
They are not the only ones trying to make sense of Vaibhav Suryavanshi, the teenage prodigy whose 101 for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League on Monday made him the youngest centurion in men’s Twenty20 cricket.
Suryavanshi was just 14 years and 32 days according to his birth certificate – although there has been some dispute over his age – when he showed extraordinary hitting power to smash a 35-ball hundred against Gujarat Titans.
It was the second-fastest century in the competition’s history, behind only Chris Gayle’s 30-ball effort for Royal Challengers Bangalore back in 2013.
But what was so extraordinary about this innings from Suryavanshi, nicknamed “Boss Baby” by IPL fans after the animated Dreamworks film character, is the distance he hit the ball for one so young. Three of his 11 sixes travelled beyond 85 metres. Two eclipsed 90.
FASTEST HUNDRED BY AN INDIAN IN THE IPL – 35 BALLS 🚨
YOUNGEST TO SCORE A T20 HUNDRED 🚨14 YEAR-OLD VAIBHAV SURYAVANSHI 👏 pic.twitter.com/94HW8my0Nm
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) April 28, 2025
And this all came against a world-class bowling attack boasting more than 600 international appearances, including the Indian trio of Mohammed Siraj, Ishant Sharma and Washington Sundar, plus Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan, the world’s best white-ball spinner.
There had been a taster to all this earlier this month when the youngster, on his IPL debut against Lucknow Super Giants, hit his first ball for six. The bowler on that occasion was the hugely-experienced India all-rounder Shardul Thakur.
There was much noise when a 13-year-old Suryavanshi followed up a 58-ball century against Australia under-19s in a youth Test last October by landing a £105,000 IPL deal with Rajasthan. That noise is now deafening.
Comparisons with Sachin Tendulkar, who made his Test debut aged 16 in 1989, are rife. The Indian great was one of the first to congratulate Suryavanshi on social media on Monday.
Brian Lara, who the youngster has studied over countless hours on YouTube, also praised him. “Did I entertain? You surely entertained me!!!” the West Indian great posted on Instagram.
There are, many observers argue, similarities in style between the two left-handers.
Suryavanshi’s back story is also compelling. When the youngster from rural Bihar in the far east of India was taken under the wing of coach Manish Ojha at the age of eight he was too small to run between the wickets or to face a bowling machine. Ojha would hone his hitting technique by throwing full tosses at him.
Suryavanshi, who made the 60-mile journey from his home in Tajpur village to the GenNex cricket academy in Patna every other day, would face 350 to 400 balls in the nets, batting so long that his parents would give him extra food for the net bowlers he was working over. His father, Sanjiv, even sold land on his farm to support his son’s ambitions.
By the age of 12, he had made his first-class debut for Bihar, his home state, in the Ranji Trophy.
Or was he slightly older? This is where Suryavanshi’s story gets murky. His official date of birth is 27 March, 2011 but in an interview with BNN News uploaded to YouTube in April 2023 he said he would turn 14 in September of that year. It would make him 15 years and seven months right now.
This is fiercely disputed by his father, who has said: “When he was eight-and-a-half years old he first appeared for a BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] bone test. He has already played [for] India Under-19s. We don’t fear anyone. He can again undergo [an] age test.”
Bone tests are routine for age-group players in India. The BCCI relies on these laboratory tests, which are usually taken from dental X-rays, rather than just birth certificates, to verify a player’s age. There is, though, a potential margin of error in these of one to two years.
There is nothing for Suryavanshi or his family to gain from lying about his age. Yet that has not stopped speculation about it, with one photo of a six-year-old Suryavanshi and his father from an IPL game in 2017 fuelling rumours of so-called “age fraud”.
Whatever the truth, and there is nothing to suggest he isn’t 14, this is still a remarkable story for a supremely-talented young cricketer.
But it does beg the question of whether this early exposure to the spotlight – and in India, there is nothing like breaking through as the country’s next cricketing superstar – is healthy for a child.
In this respect, the words of Ojha, his former coach, have not been entirely helpful.
In a recent interview with The Times of India, he was quoted as saying of Suryavanshi’s diet: “He is just fond of chicken and mutton.
“He is a kid, so he used to love pizza a lot. But he doesn’t eat it any more.
“When we used to give him mutton, no matter how much we gave, he would finish it. That’s why he looks a bit chubby.”
At a time when the youngster could probably do without any added pressure, Ojha has also predicted: “He will handle fame and pressure. And mark my words: within the next one to two years, he will be part of India’s T20 team.”
Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Bishop offered a more cautious tone, saying: “This is completely new territory for Rahul [Dravid, the Rajasthan coach].
“It’s new territory for his parents, too. The level of scrutiny he’s going to face when he plays his next game will be massive. And if he doesn’t score, you know there will be detractors.
“His parents will need to stay very close to him. It’s crucial now to surround him with the right people.”
