Former Australia captain Steve Waugh will not be a spiritual follower of the IPL. However when a precocious expertise like Vaibhav Suryavanshi bursts onto the scene, even the legendary Aussie batter can not assist however sit up and take be aware.
Waugh expressed disbelief over seeing the 14-year-old’s impeccable timing and putting for the Rajasthan Royals this IPL version, however confused that the dashing southpaw will bear the problem of preserving all that prodigious expertise below “management” over the forthcoming years.
If batting at 14 within the IPL wasn’t sufficient, Suryavanshi rewrote the report books when he walloped a 35-ball century towards Gujarat Titans, the quickest hundred by an Indian within the league’s historical past.
“I watched that century and I simply couldn’t imagine how effectively he struck the ball and the way simple he was hitting the sixes and the way relaxed he was,” Waugh stated in a media interplay alongside Anil Kumble, Matthew Hayden and Robin Uthappa on ‘Australian Summer time of Cricket 2025-26′ organised by JioStar, Cricket Australia and the Australian Authorities.
“As a 14-year-old, he had no idea of stress…simply play with full freedom, in order that was nice to look at. I suppose for him the problem will likely be to maintain it below management,” he added.
“Can he play the identical manner with the identical enthusiasm, the identical freedom as he has carried out this 12 months? That’ll be his problem,” he added.
“He’s obtained lots of talent, he’s mentally powerful and he’s obtained an amazing backstory, so that you wish to see somebody like that achieve success. It’s an amazing story for cricket and for me watching from a good distance away,” Waugh stated referring to the well-documented accounts of his mother and father’ sacrifices to make sure his success.
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No Tendulkar comparisons
Waugh additionally cautioned towards the inevitable obsession to attract teenage sensations to India’s legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who debuted in Checks at 16 in 1989.
“I don’t assume you may evaluate anybody to Sachin Tendulkar. I imply, a 16-year-old (18-year-old) popping out to Australia and scoring a century in Perth on the toughest, (the) most original pitch in world cricket the place most gamers actually wrestle to play on a pitch,” Waugh stated.
“…for him to attain a century as a youngster in Perth was a freakish efficiency. It’s very uncommon you get a Sachin Tendulkar come alongside. However I might by no means have anticipated a 14-year-old to attain a 100 within the IPL, that was unthinkable,” Waugh added.
– With PTI inputs