14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi continued to impress with his explosive batting skills for India U-19 during the fourth ODI of the five-match series against England. The left-hand batter smashed a 52-ball hundred in the match and contributed massively to the side's total to 363/9 in 50 overs. He would eventually get dismissed after scoring 143 runs from just 78 deliveries, hammering 13 boundaries and 10 towering sixes.
Suryavanshi broke multiple records with his century
With the hundred, Suryavanshi also became the batter to score the fastest hundred in the history of youth ODIs, leaving behind Pakistan's Kamran Ghulam who had hit a 53-ball ton against England back in 2013. He also became the youngest Indian to score a youth ODI hundred, breaking Sarfaraz Khan's record. The latter had scored a hundred for the U-19 side against South Africa when he was just 15 years and 338 days old.
Former England cricketer Michael Atherton was left throroughly impressed with Suryavanshi and showered praise on the teenage sensation for the 'incredible' shots that he played in his fiery knock. He also compared the left-hander's explosive batting approach to that of Rishabh Pant, who is also known for his fearless style of batting.
“The young man, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who shot to prominence as, teenage prodigy, shot to prominence with a 35-ball 100 in the IPL, hit a 52-ball 100 today. He’s finally out for 143 of 78 balls, 13 fours, 10 sixes, some incredible shots in this innings," Atherton said while speaking on Sky Sports.
“There is a bit of a similarity with Rishabh Pant, the way that he plays, he’s got a beautiful swing of the bat, a very pure and natural swing of the bat and was clearly in fantastic form today, giving it some real welly," he added.
Meanwhile, another India batter who highly contributed towards their humongous total of 363 in the fourth ODI was Vihaan Malhotra. The youngster played a terrific knock of 129 runs and also formed a massive stand of 219 runs alongside Suryavanshi.
Despite valiant efforts from Andrew Flintoff's son, Rocky Flintoff who played a brilliant knock of 107, the Men in Blue emerged victorious by bundling out the hosts for 308 runs. This 55-run win for the visitors saw them seal the series and they now lead by 3-1 ahead of the final match which is set to be played on July 7.