Youngest IPL Crorepati Vaibhav Suryavanshi Signed by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 1.1 Crore

Rajasthan Royals signs 13-year-old cricket prodigy Vaibhav Suryavanshi for Rs 1.1 crore, making him the youngest-ever IPL crorepati.

Teen cricket sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi becomes the youngest IPL player to earn a crore-plus deal at 13, marking a new milestone in Indian cricket.

Bihar youngster Vaibhav Suryavanshi, a left-hand top-order batter, has become the youngest player to earn an IPL deal, worth INR 1.10 crore (US $ 0.13 million approx.), from Rajasthan Royals (RR).

Suryavanshi, all of 13 years and 243 days on the day he got his maiden IPL contract, has already played for India Under-19 and scored a century opening the batting against Australia U-19 in a four-day game in Chennai less than two months ago.

Bids for Suryavanshi started at his base price of INR 30 lakh and RR and Delhi Capitals (DC) were soon involved in the bidding battle, which eventually went RR’s way, on the second day of IPL action in Jeddah.

“He’s been to our high performance center in Nagpur, he had trials there and really impressed our coaching set-up there,” RR CEO Jake Lush McCrum said after the auction ended. “He’s an incredible talent and of course you got to have the confidence so he can step up to the IPL level. So lots of work will go in in the coming months to continue to develop him but hell of a talent and we’re really excited to have him as part of the franchise.”

Suryavanshi, who hails from Samastipur, a city about 100 kilometres north-east from Patna, has featured in five Ranji Trophy games since his first-class debut against Mumbai earlier this year and is currently playing T20s in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Bihar. He recently made his T20 debut against Rajasthan, on November 23, 2024.

The highlight of his career so far is the century against Australia U-19, which came off just 58 balls, before he fell for 104. That knock made Suryavanshi the youngest player – at 13 years and 187 days – to score a century in youth cricket, breaking the previous record of 14 years and 241 days held by Bangladesh’s current captain Najmul Hossain Shanto.

Suryavanshi also has a triple-century to his name – an unbeaten 332 – in an U-19 tournament in Bihar, the Randhir Verma Tournament. He idolizes Brian Lara and consults former India opener Wasim Jaffer about his game from time to time – they had first met during an U-19 white-ball tournament in Bangladesh in November 2023.

His formal coach, though, is his father Sanjeev Suryavanshi. Sanjeev was a cricketer, too, but when he couldn’t make it to the higher levels, he turned to coaching, and began working with Vaibhav once he showed an interest in playing the game seriously.

Vaibhav fails In U19 Asia Cup Match Vs Pakistan

However, the young batter failed to live up to the hype in his maiden U19 Asia Cup outing match. All eyes were on Vaibhav’s performance, since he was chosen for IPL. In the much awaited inning of Asia Cup, with India chasing 282 in their opening clash against arch-rivals Pakistan, Suryavanshi played nine balls, scoring one run only. He was dismissed by pacer Ali Raza in the 5th over of India’s chase. In this match, Vaibhav had come to open the Indian inning.

Still, Vaibhav made a special record in the match between India and Pakistan. He has become the youngest player to play an ODI match for the Under 19 Team India. He has broken the record of Piyush Chawla and Kumar Kushagra. The record of playing the Under19 ODI match at the youngest age for India was registered in the name of Piyush Chawla. Chawla played ODI in 2003 at the age of 14 years and 311 days. Now this record has been registered in the name of Vaibhav. Vaibhav Suryavanshi played ODI match at the age of 13 years and 248 days. Kumar Kushagra and Shahbaz Nadeem have also been left behind in this matter.

However, Vaibhav’s fame also came with some controversy as some allegations surfaced that the cricketer is actually 15 years old instead of his declared age of 13 years, 288 days. The young cricketer’s father Sanjiv Suryavanshi has now tackled these allegations, stating that Vaibhav had undergone a BCCI bone test at the age of 8 and a half and that he is happy to undergo age test.

“When he was 8 and half years old he first appeared for a BCCI bone test. He has already played India U-19. He can again undergo age test.” Sanjiv Suryavanshi, father of Vaibhav. Vaibhav has scored a total of 49 centuries in local tournaments in the last one year, which brought him into the limelight. At the age of 12, he played the Vinoo Mankad Trophy for Bihar and scored more than 400 runs in five matches. Vaibhav is a fan of legendary batsmen like Yuvraj Singh, Brian Lara and Virender Sehwag and gets inspiration by watching their batting videos.

Sharing his story, Vaibhav’s father said, I left my business for Vaibhav’s cricket career and faced a lot of difficulties. I even had to sell a portion of my land. Vaibhav showed interest in cricket from a young age. I started making him practice by setting up a net outside the house. Today he is fulfilling my dream.”

It’s good to see the strategy of IPL franchisee, which underlines the theme – “Let’s invest in our young cricketers.”