'Don't care whether he's 14, 12 or 20 years old': Ravi Shastri wants bowlers to target Vaibhav Suryavanshi with this delivery to take 'the real test'

Rajasthan Royals' (RR) young batting sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi created history during his last Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 outing against Gujarat Titans at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. The 14-year-old cricketer smashed a 35-ball century that helped the RR to register an eight-wicket win against GT.

With that ton, Suryavanshi becomes the youngest ever batter to smash a T20 century and the second-fastest to hit a ton in the cash-rich league's history after Chris Gayle's 30-ball heroic effort against Pune Warriors in 2013.

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri lavished praise on young star and admitted that he had been in awe of how Suryavanshi has started his cricketing career.

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"I think the first shot he ever played (against Lucknow), that would have taken everyone's breath away," Ravi Shastri said as quoted by the ICC.

Shastri also admitted that failure is part of the learning process during the early age. He explained the importance of how Vaibhav handles setbacks as he faces new challenges.

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"But he's young, just let him play. I would say just let him play a bit because it's at that age, there's bound to be failure as well. It's how he handles failure, as people will come up with new things."

Shastri also suggested that bowlers target Suryavanshi with some short-pitched deliveries in the future, and the real test will come with how he responds.

"There'll be lots of short stuff thrown at him the next time he comes out to bat because when you tonk someone's first ball for six, then you show no mercy," he said.

"Then you don't care whether he's 14 years old or 12 years old or 20 years old. The menu is the same that you dish out. So, he'll have to get used to that, and once we see him handling that, then you can make a proper judgement," he added.

He smashed seven fours and 11 sixes during his 38-ball innings, with his century coming from just 35 deliveries and the second fastest in the history of the IPL, only behind Chris Gayle's 30-ball effort.