Who Is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi? The 15-Year-Old Rewriting India's Cricket Record Books
- 🔑 Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, born March 27, 2011, in Bihar, India, is a 15-year-old left-handed opening batter who plays for Bihar, the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League and India’s men’s T20I team, and he is the youngest man ever to play international cricket for India.
- He was 14 years and 23 days old when he debuted in the IPL on April 19, 2025, the league’s youngest player, and nine days later, on April 28, 2025, he scored 101 off 38 balls against Gujarat Titans to become the youngest centurion in men’s T20 cricket.
- On February 6, 2026, he hit 175 off 80 balls, including 15 sixes, in the Under-19 World Cup final as India beat England by 100 runs, then won the IPL 2026 Orange Cap with 776 runs and a single-season record 72 sixes.
- He debuted for India on July 4, 2026, at 15 years and 99 days, passing a Sachin Tendulkar age mark that stood since 1989, and in Zimbabwe later that month he hit the youngest T20I half-century, then 81 off 49 balls, and was named Player of the Series.
- On October 3, 2026, India beat Pakistan by 19 runs to retain the Asian Games men’s T20 gold medal in Japan, with Sooryavanshi, who made 38 in the semifinal and 15 off nine balls in the final, part of the winning squad; TIME also named him to its 2026 TIME100 Next list.
- He is in India’s squad for five T20Is against West Indies starting October 6, 2026, so his totals will change; this profile uses only public, on-field facts, and no betting odds, win probabilities or predictions about his future appear anywhere on this page.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is a 15-year-old left-handed opening batter from Bihar, India, who has become the youngest man to play international cricket for India and the leading run-scorer of the 2026 Indian Premier League. In the roughly 18 months since his debut in that league at age 14, he has added an Asian Games gold medal and a spot on TIME’s 2026 TIME100 Next list. This profile is pinned to Saturday, October 3, 2026, and covers only his public on-field record.
Who is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi?
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, also spelled Suryavanshi, was born on March 27, 2011, in Tajpur, in Bihar’s Samastipur district, and is a left-handed top-order batter who also bowls occasional slow left-arm spin. He plays for Bihar in India’s domestic cricket, for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL and, since July 2026, for India’s men’s team in Twenty20 internationals (T20Is), a format in which each side bats for 20 overs and a match lasts about three hours. He made his first-class debut for Bihar in January 2024 at age 12, and in December 2025 he hit 190 off 84 balls, including a hundred in 36 balls, in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, India’s domestic 50-over tournament. Some fans questioned his age online in 2025, but his father has said he passed a bone test for age verification run by India’s cricket board (the BCCI) as a child, and news reports at the time noted no public BCCI statement on it, so we use his official birth date throughout.
How did he become the youngest player in IPL history?
Rajasthan Royals signed him at age 13 for 11 million rupees (about $128,750 at April 2025 exchange rates) at the November 2024 IPL auction, and on April 19, 2025, at 14 years and 23 days old, he became the youngest player in IPL history. The IPL is India’s franchise Twenty20 league, and in India a “crore” is 10 million, so his fee was listed as Rs 1.1 crore. Against Lucknow Super Giants he hit a six off his first ball, bowled by Shardul Thakur, and made 34 off 20 balls. Nine days later, in Jaipur on April 28, 2025, he scored 101 off 38 balls against Gujarat Titans, reaching his hundred in 35 balls at 14 years and 32 days. That made him the youngest centurion in men’s T20 cricket; his hundred was the fastest by an Indian in the IPL and the second-fastest in league history, behind Chris Gayle’s 30-ball century. Rajasthan won by eight wickets.
What did he do at the Under-19 World Cup and in IPL 2026?
He scored 175 off 80 balls in the Under-19 World Cup final on February 6, 2026, in Harare, Zimbabwe, and later that spring led the IPL in runs with 776 to win the Orange Cap. India beat England by 100 runs after posting 411/9. His innings included 15 sixes and a 55-ball century, the second-fastest in that tournament’s history, and he was named Player of the Tournament while still 14. In IPL 2026 he scored at a strike rate of about 237 runs per 100 balls and hit a single-season record 72 sixes, passing Gayle’s mark of 59. He also won the league’s Most Valuable Player and Emerging Player awards.
How did he reach India’s national team?
Sooryavanshi debuted for India on July 4, 2026, against England in Manchester, at 15 years and 99 days old, making him the youngest man to play international cricket for India. That passed a mark Sachin Tendulkar had held since his Test debut at 16 in 1989. He made 14 off 10 balls in a four-wicket England win. On India’s July tour of Zimbabwe, he scored a half-century in Harare on July 23, 2026, off 18 balls by the ICC’s count, at 15 years and 118 days, which the ICC described as the youngest T20I fifty on record. He followed it with 81 off 49 balls on July 26, was Player of the Match, and finished with 151 runs in three matches and the Player of the Series award. Through that series he had 193 runs in six T20Is.
What happened at the 2026 Asian Games?
India beat Pakistan by 19 runs in the men’s T20 gold-medal match on October 3, 2026, at Kōrogi Sports Park in Nisshin, Japan, and Sooryavanshi, who played in the semifinal and the final, is part of the gold-medal squad. India also won this title in 2023. In the October 1 semifinal, a 124-run win over Sri Lanka, he made 38 off 21 balls. In the final he made 15 off nine balls, with two sixes, before being caught behind off Saim Ayub in the third over; match reports said Ayub made a baby-rocking gesture afterward and that the teams again did not shake hands. India finished on 211/6, with Abhishek Sharma top-scoring with 61.
What are his key scores so far?
His key scores run from 101 off 38 balls in the IPL to 15 off nine balls in the Asian Games final, shown below as runs (balls faced).
| Date | Match | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 28, 2025 | IPL v Gujarat | 101 (38) |
| Dec 2025 | Vijay Hazare | 190 (84) |
| Feb 6, 2026 | U19 WC final | 175 (80) |
| Jul 4, 2026 | T20I debut | 14 (10) |
| Jul 26, 2026 | T20I v Zimbabwe | 81 (49) |
| Oct 1, 2026 | Asian Games semi | 38 (21) |
| Oct 3, 2026 | Asian Games final | 15 (9) |
Why is he on TIME’s 2026 TIME100 Next list?
TIME named him to its 2026 TIME100 Next list of rising stars, published September 30, 2026, as one of seven athletes and the only cricketer. The other six are Arch Manning, Tyrese Maxey, Naomi Girma, Folarin Balogun, Alexandra Eala and Olivia Miles. Coverage describes him as the only Indian athlete and the youngest person on this year’s list, and points to his Under-19 World Cup final, his IPL season and his India debut. Reports say TIME’s recognition event is set for October 29 in New York.
What is next for him?
Sooryavanshi is named in India’s squad for the five-match T20I series against West Indies, which opens October 6, 2026, in Lucknow and ends October 17 in Bengaluru. A squad place is not the same as a starting spot, so check the team sheet on match day. For dates, venues and how to watch in the US, see our guide to the India vs West Indies series schedule , and for a profile of one of the visiting batters, see our piece on West Indies wicketkeeper-batter Amir Jangoo . The 193 runs in six T20Is quoted above run through the Zimbabwe tour and will keep changing as this series is played.