Former Team India all-rounder Irfan Pathan terms the upcoming IPL 2026 season “a learning one” for Rajasthan Royals (RR) young opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
Eyes will be on Sooryavanshi, the 14-year-old batting sensation from India, in this upcoming edition as well. Last year, for RR, he lit up the tournament with his maiden appearance, smashing the fastest century in the tournament by an Indian (35 balls, second-fastest overall). He even ended up being the youngest centurion in the league’s history, scoring 252 runs in seven games in total.
While speaking on JioHotstar, Pathan said: “This season of the IPL for Vaibhav Suryavanshi will be a learning one. He has played in the tournament last year, he has played domestic cricket, and he is playing cricket in all formats everywhere. He played in the Under-19 World Cup, he has taken part in the Ranji Trophy with Bihar, and he has scored runs everywhere. In white-ball cricket and red-ball cricket, everyone is taking note of him. Bowlers are doing the same.”
2025, what a year it turned out to be for the youngster. Along with his IPL success, at the youth level, he smashed a 52-ball ODI century in England, a rapid Test century in Australia, and record-breaking centuries in both the Asia Cup Rising Stars T20 and Under-19 Asia Cup.
Then, he followed it up with outstanding knocks in the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Bihar, for example, smashing 190 off 84 balls against Arunachal Pradesh. Then, to kick off 2026, he began on a positive note, winning the ICC U-19 World Cup title by defeating England in the final, where he smashed 175 off 80 balls, striking at 218.75 and smashing 15 fours and 15 sixes.
Therefore, since that IPL debut, he has played a lot of cricket till now and while pointing that out, Pathan claimed that this time in the IPL, bowlers and opposition will definitely come up with better plans against Sooryavanshi, and then he needs to find a way to tackle those and upgrade his game a notch above.
“Since he has played so much cricket since his IPL debut last year, other players are watching his videos and analysing his weaknesses. So he needs to find a way to upgrade his game and work on his weaknesses. He has slammed centuries with ease in all forms of cricket. When you do that consistently, not just in IPL but in domestic cricket, Under-19 cricket and emerging matches, your confidence keeps going higher,” he added.
“This IPL season, all bowlers will be ready with their strategies and Vaibhav will be looking to prove a point. He can do that by slamming another hundred in the IPL. When he scores runs consistently this season, that is when we can say Vaibhav Suryavanshi has upgraded his game,” Pathan concluded.
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