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South Africa’s legendary batter AB de Villiers witnessed his former franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) lift the Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy for the second consecutive season in Ahmedabad. After Virat Kohli’s match-winning unbeaten 75 against Gujarat Titans (GT) helped his team chase down the target of 156 with two overs to spare, he met his former RCB teammate De Villiers. The Mr. 360 later revealed what Kohli told him about 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi as he was walking up the stage to collect the orange cap.
“Do you want to know what Virat said? I did have a brief chat with Virat, and as Vaibhav was walking up to the stage to receive his Orange Cap trophy, Virat raised his eyebrows and said, ‘AB, this kid is special. The boy can play,’” De Villiers said.
Sooryavanshi beat Gujarat Titans (GT) openers Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan along with Kohli to win the orange cap. He scored 776 runs from 16 innings at an average of 48.50 and strike rate of 237.30, featuring a century and five fifties. In the Eliminator and Qualifier 2, he missed reaching three figures by few runs.
Greats bat for Sooryavanshi debut
Sooryavanshi has got the nod from greats to make his debut in international cricket. Legendary Sunil Gavaskar has backed him to make T20I debut on UK tour (Ireland and England. Meanwhile, ‘Master Blaster’ Sachin Tendulkar expressed his desire to see Sooryavanshi play Test cricket at some point. Tendulkar was asked the question about Sooryavanshi’s future Test debut in the presence of chief selector Ajit Agarkar.
Sooryavanshi starts red-ball practice
Not just the greats, but GT captain Gill and his senior teammate Jos Buttler are in awe of what Sooryavanshi can do as well. After winning the orange cap, the 15-year-old revealed that he has already started practicing with the red-ball but noone has seen him doing it so far.
Headache for selectors, Sooryavanshi to be tested in Sri Lanka
The young southpaw will be tested on his trip to Sri Lanka with Tilak Varma-led India A where he will face Afghanistan A bowlers as well. While selecting the squad for UK tour, India’s first after T20 World Cup 2026 triumph, there will be pressure on selectors to pick the teenager.
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