Over the years we have seen any number of young prodigies excelling at the highest level in a range of different sports. In football Pelé burst onto the scene at the age of 15 with Santos, then played for Brazil at 16 and won the World Cup at 17, scoring six goals in the finals in 1958. Wayne Rooney had his “remember the name” moment against Arsenal when he was just 16, and more recently still the sensation that is Lamine Yamal set all sorts of age-based records as he helped Spain win Euro 2024 the day after he turned 17.
In other sports, participants have been even younger, with Romanian gymnastic legend Nadia Comăneci registering a perfect 10 at the 1976 Olympics when a mere 14 years old. Tom Daley went to the 2008 Olympic Games when just 13, whilst Sky Brown was even younger (though still 13) when she won skateboarding bronze at the Tokyo Olympics which were held in 2021. Luke Littler is another fine example of a child prodigy going right to the top but cricket has tended to be a sport where youth has not always had the same chance to shine.
That has all changed for good thanks to the emergence during the 2025 IPL season of the sensational batting talent of Vaibhav Suryavanshi. Remembering the name may take a little more effort for those in the UK, but Suryavanshi is surely going to go and establish himself as a player who will be remembered for a long, long time.
Talent Been Clear for Some Time
Vaibhav Suryavanshi writing his-story
The 14-year-old became the YOUNGEST player to score a HUNDRED in #TATAIPL
Updates ▶ https://t.co/HvqSuGgTlN#RRvGT | @rajasthanroyals pic.twitter.com/XyatZYNGYS
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 28, 2025
To many in the cricket world, Suryavanshi is a new name and a player they may have only just heard about. However, he has been impressing in India for a couple of years now, or put another way, around 15% of his life! He made his debut in first-class cricket whilst still just 12, appearing for his home state, Bihar, against Mumbai, in January 2024.
In doing so he easily set a new record for the youngest player to appear at that level in the modern era. Given the man he beat was a certain Yuvraj Singh, and he bettered Yuvraj’s mark by almost two and a half years, it is easy to see why excitement began to build around the batter.
In September last year, he made his debut for the Indian U19 side whilst still just 13 and what a debut it was. He struck a century from just 58 balls – and that against Australia! With a smattering of impressive innings that showcased his power, range of shots, maturity and the speed with which he can accumulate runs, it was little surprise that he was picked up by a team in the IPL.
Rajasthan Royals
Still just 13, Rajasthan Royals agreed a fee of around £104,000 to sign him at the IPL auction in November 2024. The incredible youngster turned 14 in March and 23 days later, in mid-April, he made his debut in the IPL. With India’s cricket-mad millions watching on, would the youngster freeze or be overawed? Well, not exactly: he hit his first ball for six! He went on to score 34, from just 20 balls and if there was a secret, it was well and truly out now. But better, much, much better was to come in Suryavanshi’s third IPL clash.
Showing the same impressive confidence and off-the-scale ability, the youngster thrashed a hundred from just 35 balls! Three balls later he was dismissed for 101 but his innings set so many incredible new records. He is now – by a long way – the youngest player to hit a ton in a men’s T20 match. It was the fastest IPL hundred by an Indian and the second fastest overall.
That means that at the age of just 14 and 32 days, only “Universe Boss” Chris Gayle has hit a faster IPL century than Suryavanshi, whose innings included 13 dots, meaning that he did not score from over a third of the balls he faced. However, many of the other 25 were treated with total disdain, the Bihar native blasting seven fours and 11 sixes, striking at 265.79 over the course of his innings.
Karim Jannat, who was making his debut for the Royals’ opponents, Gujarat, rather had his day spoiled, as his one over was ruthlessly put away for 30 by the youngster. The Titans’ target of 210 was reached with consummate ease thanks to Suryavanshi, Rajasthan making 212/2 from just 15.5 overs.
Other Young Cricket Stars
Whilst cricket may not lend itself to the advancement of young stars as much as some sports, that is not to say that Suryavanshi is the first.
Sachin Tendulkar
An obvious comparison would be his compatriot and one of the all-time greats, Sachin Tendulkar. The Little Master was at the crease well before T20 cricket but shone in all available formats and made his genius apparent from a very young age. He made his Test debut against Pakistan at the age of 16, having been named in Bombay’s squad for the Ranji Trophy at 14.
At 15 he made his first-class debut and struck 100 not out and through his career he would go on to make and break many records, including becoming Yorkshire’s first overseas player at the age of just 19. Tendulkar is the fifth-youngest man to play Test cricket, with the youngest being Hasan Raza, who was just 14 years, 227 days old when he played against Zimbabwe in 1996.
England’s Youngest Players
England’s youngest player in the longest form is the aged Rehan Ahmed (18 years, 26 days), and he is also the sixth youngest ever to take five wickets in an innings.
Denis Compton is England’s youngest player to score a ton, doing so in 1938, 18 days past his 20th birthday. England also had three young double centurions in Tests, with Len Hutton, David Gower and most recently Zak Crawley all scoring 200+ at the age of 22. Hutton is also the third youngest of all time to make a triple century, with Harry Brook 11th on that list.
Young Stars Around the Globe
Cricket has seen many players demonstrate their potential at a very young age. Aussie quick Pat Cummins took 6/79 in his second innings as a Test bowler at 18; Waqar Younis captained Pakistan 15 days after turning 22, having made his debut in the same game as Tendulkar, the day before he turned; and Ian Botham was one of Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year in 1978 at the age of 22.
None of these stars burst onto the scene quite as young as Suryavanshi, nor with such a sensational performance. However, if the Bihari youngster can go on to have a career anything like most of them, he will have done very well.