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Teenagers are now dusting it off in sports.
Luke Littler (19) rules the darts. Joao Fonseca (19) eliminated all-time tennis great Novak Djokovic from the French Open.
Kimi Antonelli (19) leads the F1 World Championship. Max Daumann (16) played his part in Arsenal’s Premier League win.
And a 15-year-old youth is running amok in IPL.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi is literally smashing it. He hit a record 72 sixes in 16 innings. That’s an average of 4.5 a game.
Suryavanshi’s sixes – the previous record in a single IPL was Chris Gayle’s 59 in 2012 – helped him to 776 runs in the campaign off just 327 deliveries.
The Rajasthan Royals star’s strike-rate (average number of runs per 100 balls faced by a batsman) was 237.30.
IPL has never seen any player score so many runs. Jack Fraser-McGurkey had a strike-rate of 234.04 in 2024 but his last run was 330, off 141 balls.
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Suryavanshi was dismissed for 97 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad as he sought to confirm his record 29-ball IPL century.
One person who has been impressed by this wonder kid is former England captain Michael Vaughan.
On the day Suryavanshi was caught trying for a boundary on 97, Vaughan tweeted that he could have seen an IPL-record 29-ball century – Gayle’s 30-ball effort safe for now – that the left-hander was “the best T20 opener in the world”.
So, is he right?
Who are Suryavanshi’s rivals for the best T20 opener in the world?
Something like this is always going to be subjective. A great debate for a sunny day in a beer garden or, for that matter, many Indian grounds, but it’s hard to say for sure.
What counts against Suryavanshi is that he has yet to play international cricket – that day will come, perhaps very soon – and others have been doing it for longer.
Others on the list include compatriots Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan – the former the top-ranked batsman in T20Is, the latter at No.2. Another Indian, Sanju Samson, sizzled towards the end of this year’s T20 World Cup and hit two IPL tons this term.
India’s Abhishek Sharma is the world’s leading T20I batsman
Pakistan’s Sahibzada Farhan, third in the T20I standings, was the highest run-getter in the T20 World Cup in the spring. Australia’s Mitchell Marsh is the gun in this format.
England’s Phil Salt has four T20 centuries, including an unbeaten 141 off 60 balls against South Africa last September. Teammate Jos Buttler was in the conversation big time a few years ago when he was at his peak but probably not now.
But where Suryavanshi surpasses its rivals is brutality.
His tally of 63 runs is the fourth highest when it comes to scores of fours in the 2026 IPL. When it comes to hitting sixes, he is in a league of his own with 29 more than Abhishek.
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Watch Suryavanshi’s brilliant 10 sixes against Lucknow Super Giants in a flash
So we can probably say without question that Suryavanshi is the best T20 opener in the world right now. His IPL has surprised.
36-ball century against Sunrisers Hyderabad, 29-ball 97 against the same team, 38-ball 93 against Lucknow Super Giants, 47-ball 96 against Gujarat Titans.
He aceed Royal Challengers Bangalore with 78 off 26 balls. He creamed Chennai Super Kings for 52 off 17 deliveries. His 521 runs in the Powerplay (first six overs of an innings) this season is a record in all editions of the IPL.
And as remarkable as all this is, we can’t say it comes as a complete shock.
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Suryavanshi, then 14, scored 175 off just 80 balls as India dominated England in the final of the Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup earlier this year.
Remember, this is a player who scored a 35-ball hundred as a 14-year-old for Rajasthan against Gujarat in last year’s IPL. Between then and the 2026 edition, he dominated youth cricket, scoring 175 off 80 balls against England in the U-19 World Cup final.
Suryavanshi’s next call to India?
We now wait to see if India will be given the chance to hammer England’s senior bowlers when they reach these shores in late summer for a tour comprising five T20 Internationals and three one-day internationals.
Surrounding the aforementioned Abhishek, Kishan and Samson, Suryavanshi has immense competition for a place in a team that has won the last two T20 World Cups.
Also, with all the pressure and international cricket can throw at you, India might decide that 15 – a young 15 at the time, he won’t turn 16 until March 2027 – might be too early for Suryavanshi.
But he is making a hell of a case and Vaughan thinks India will pick him to face England.
Rajasthan coach Kumar Sangakkara said: “Whatever Vaibhav has shown against the best bowlers in the world, he is ready to take on any challenge you throw at him.
“I am sure he will get that call very soon. He has batted with a lot of maturity. He has shouldered the opening partnership very well for us this season.”
Mature, confident and destructive – key characteristics of Suryavanshi
Suryavanshi showed that maturity against Gujarat on Friday as he watched top-order wickets fall around him.
He hit his first six off the 14th legal ball he faced and reached his fifty from 31. Not slow, but slow by the standard of his breathing. He also hit the helmet. He then accelerated, scoring 46 off his next 16 balls before moving to deep third.
Suryavanshi can become India’s youngest male international cricketer
It was the second innings in a row that he had died to reach three figures in style and the third in four that he had played aggressive shots in the 90s but in a way, it perhaps showed his readiness for international cricket. He doesn’t back down.
And he is not lacking in confidence either, recently telling Kevin Pietersen that he thinks he can score 200 runs in a T20 match.
“You don’t seem to have many options,” remarked Pat Cummins after Suryavanshi hit three consecutive sixes during his 29-ball 97 against Sunrisers in the IPL playoffs. “You miss your yorkers a bit and he doesn’t tend to miss them.”
India now have no choice but to pick him. The 15-year-old has no choice but to pick. Just let that sink in.
We don’t clutter his mind too much. He comes to all our team meetings, he contributes, he listens, does a lot of homework. He practices well and he reads the bowlers well, he watches their videos and prepares himself. We don’t want to put unnecessary thoughts in his head. I think clear mind, batting with courage is what we want to see from him.
Watch India’s white ball tour of England from July 1-19 on Sky Sports. Didn’t get the sky? Stream cricket and more now.
India Tour England 2026
All times UK and Ireland; All live on Sky Sports
- 1st T20I (Wednesday 1st July) – Chester-le-Street, Durham (5.30pm)
- 2nd T20I (Saturday 4 July) – Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester (2.30pm)
- 3rd T20I (Tuesday July 7) – Trent Bridge, Nottingham (5.30pm)
- 4th T20I (Thursday July 9)- Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol (5.30pm)
- Fifth T20I (Saturday July 11) – Utilita Bowl, Southampton (2.30pm)
- First ODI (Tuesday, July 14) – Edgbaston, Birmingham (11am)
- Second ODI (Thursday July 16)- Sophia Gardens, Cardiff (1pm)
- Third ODI (Sunday July 19)- Lord’s, London (11am)
