Fourteen-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi is “only going to get better” but will require support after his new-found fame, says his Rajasthan Royals coach and India legend Rahul Dravid.
Royals opener Suryavanshi scored a stunning 35-ball century against Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League on Monday, becoming the youngest player to score a hundred in men’s T20s.
“Putting a certain level of support to navigate all of this attention and still allowing him that space to be a youngster is going to be important,” said Dravid, who played 509 times for India and served as captain and head coach.
“That’s part of being a cricketer in this country – how to handle this.
“It’s impossible to distance yourself 100% but neither do you want to get sucked into it completely as well.
“So finding that happy medium is probably the answer in this situation.”
Suryavanshi was signed for 103,789 (1.1 crore rupees) at last year’s auction and became the IPL’s youngest player when he made his debut against Lucknow Super Giants this month.
He made headlines by hitting his first ball for six in making 34 in his first innings, and in his third match scored 101 from 38 balls with seven fours and 11 sixes.
Suryavanshi has since been praised by India legend Sachin Tendulkar, former all-rounder Yuvraj Singh and others.
“He’s only going to develop and he’s only going to get better,” said Dravid. “Nobody is saying he’s a finished article.
“No-one should be in a rush and proclaim him what he is not. He is what he is.
“He’s an exceptionally talented young player who is working really hard on his skills and abilities, but he’s going to have to keep improving.”
Suryavanshi became the youngest player to be signed at an IPL auction when he was picked up by the Royals last year.
Before the auction a 13-year-old Suryavanshi scored a 58-ball century for India Under-19s in a youth Test against Australia Under-19s in Chennai.
“He’s got a really good hand and bat speed and obviously got a really high backlift,” Dravid said.
“He’s got good hand-eye coordination in terms of judgment of length. That’s something that’s really amazed me.
“He’s very quick to pick up on anything that is fractionally short or full – he’s really good to capitalise on that.”
