Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has received massive backing from a former Indian cricketing great to soon wear the national colors and make his India debut. The youngster, who first grabbed headlines during IPL 2025 with his fearless strokeplay, has continued his rise in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season as well.
Several former cricketers and experts have already tipped the 15-year-old for a bigger role in Indian cricket, and now 1983 World Cup-winning all-rounder and former India head coach Ravi Shastri has joined that growing list of admirers.
Also Read: Sai Sudharsan breaks ex-Australia batter’s 13-year-old record to become fastest to 3,000 T20 runs
Ravi Shastri strongly backs Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for India debut
Shastri made it clear that age should not become a barrier when a player is performing at such a high level against world-class bowlers. The former India coach praised Sooryavanshi’s fearless attitude and believes the youngster should be fast-tracked into India’s T20 setup.
"A lot of people will ask, is he 15, is he 16, is he 14? I don't care. I just see the way he is batting at the moment and the way he's taking on all comers twice his age or maybe two and a half times his age. It doesn't matter to him," Shastri told Sanjana Ganesan on The ICC Review.
Shastri further added that India should seriously consider him for upcoming white-ball assignments, especially with shorter-format tours approaching.
"So I think he's very, very much in the reckoning. And when you have tours of Ireland [in June for 2 T20Is] and all this happening now, I would be looking into him straight away.
"I can tell you that, for sure, because if you want to encourage or get someone young and into the setup as quickly as possible, then it's the T20 format of the game, and he is not short by any margin.
"This guy can walk into a lot of sides in world cricket at this current moment in time. Just when you look at the exuberance of youth, that youth shows on his face."
Sooryavanshi’s sensational IPL numbers
Despite being only two seasons old in the IPL, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has already established himself as one of the most explosive young batters in the league. Across 18 IPL matches so far, he has smashed 692 runs at an average of 38.44 while maintaining a staggering strike rate of 224.68, including two centuries and three fifties.
The youngster created history in IPL 2025 when he hammered a sensational 35-ball century against Gujarat Titans (GT), which became the second-fastest hundred in IPL history. He followed it up this season with another remarkable 36-ball ton against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), currently the third-fastest century ever recorded in the league.