How do we stop Vaibhav Sooryavanshi? Is there a way to keep him quiet? This seems to be the question on every bowler’s mind who’s bowled to him. From Under 19 to internationals, Sooryavanshi has spared no one, and if there were any concerns over his form after setting alight last year’s Indian Premier League (IPL), the 15-year-old has only gone from strength to strength and enhanced his reputation as the next big thing in Indian cricket. Such has been the Sooryavanshi mania that keeping him out of the Indian team for too long is turning fans against the BCCI. This IPL, with scores of 52, 31, 39, 78 and 46, Sooryavanshi has already climbed in the top five of the Orange Cap leaderboard, with 246 runs from six matches.
Bowl full, he will smash you. Bowl short, he will plunder you. Bowl spin and no boundary is big enough. Bowl length, and it will rain sixes. That’s Sooryavanshi for you. Contrary to the belief that bowlers will have him worked out soon, India’s teenage sensation has added a whole new layer to his batting. Barring the first-ball duck to Praful Hinge of Sunrisers Hyderabad, he has, once again, looked unstoppable.
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But like every batter, Sooryavanshi too has a weakness, and if former England pacer Steven Finn is anything to go by, the tactic might well be tried out. Finn, who played 36 Tests, 69 ODIs and 21 T20Is for England, believes the best way to dismiss Sooryavanshi isn’t conventional; instead, it lies in an unorthodox tactic – one that could get him out early if executed well.
Steven Finn believes Sooryavanshi can be dismissed cheaply
“Well, probably… pull a car for a hamstring or something. But it looks incredibly hard, doesn’t it? Even just watching the videos of him training in the nets against Jofra Archer, who is trying everything. Full and wide, short, full and straight… and all of them were going to the boundary. But when someone likes to play as free-flowing as he does, you’d think a few in and around the tight line and the back of the length, or over the top of the stumps, try to protect the leg-side to begin with,” Finn told Stuart Broad on the ‘For the Love of Cricket’ podcast.
“And then if you could throw in like a full slow wide one and make him reaching for it out there on the back of three or four tight deliveries, you could catch him off guard, but at the moment it seems to be pot luck as to whether you get him or not.”
Sooryavanshi was on the cusp of history against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on April 10, eyeing the fastest ever IPL century. He was batting on 78 off 25 balls when history beckoned the youngsters. However, Sooryavanshi, with five balls left to break The Universe Boss Chris Gayle’s record, perished, holing out in the deep.