Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s stellar run in the 2026 IPL didn’t just send ripples through the cricketing landscape and beyond. But it rather felt like an earthquake in the world of cricket. Just consider this: his name was a headline material not just for the Indian news outlets but also the foreign media after he was picked for the tours of England and Ireland.
Back home in India, you end up reading any bit of information connected to Sooryavanshi. For instance, video clips of Sooryavanshi hitting sixes from 3-4-5 years ago are abound on the internet. So much so that an Indian broadcaster ended up showing India A’s games in Sri Lanka live mainly because of the presence of the aforesaid cricketer.
Incidentally, the A series involving India A, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan A acts as the focal point for the subject on hand. In the opening fixture of the tournament between India A and Sri Lanka A, every nook and cranny of Sooryavanshi’s methods seemed to be analysed on social media platforms. And on a slow pitch when he was dismissed for 14, the internet exploded with all kinds of posts and videos.
Some of the fans showed their disappointment as they couldn’t watch more fireworks from his willow. Some others started questioning about his future and whether he could succeed in different conditions. Right at that time, one started to ponder about the enormous expectations that Sooryavanshi is carrying at the age of just 15.
Despite his obvious gift-wrapped skills, and despite his rarefied ability to smash even a hard-length delivery bowled at over 150 kph from Kagiso Rabada down the ground, Sooryavanshi is still a human. At such a young age, Sooryavanshi should be allowed to enjoy his cricket. Considering Sooryavanshi’s ultra-aggressive game, it is difficult to curb his natural instincts to go on the attack mode all the time. Unfortunately, in the digital era, and with the kind of fervent support for the game in the country, Sooryavanshi will be at the receiving end of abuses and diatribes as and when he fails.
At this moment, the caverns of the brain once again begin to worry about the weight of expectations on Sooryavanshi’s shoulders. Here, it is difficult to gauge someone’s mental strength from the outside. But something in me tells that Sooryavanshi has the equanimity and temperament to navigate tricky phases of his career and scale higher peaks.