Tue Nov 26 15:08:41 UTC 2024: ## 13-Year-Old Bihar Cricket Prodigy Creates IPL History
**Jeddah, Saudi Arabia:** Thirteen-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi from Bihar has become the youngest player ever selected in the Indian Premier League (IPL), creating a sensation at the IPL Mega Auction in Jeddah. The Rajasthan Royals secured the prodigious talent for a whopping ₹1.1 crore (approximately $134,000 USD) after a fierce bidding war with Delhi.
Suryavanshi’s journey is a testament to his exceptional talent and his father’s unwavering support. Showing cricketing prowess from the age of four, his father Sanjeev sold his farmland to fund his son’s training at a cricket academy in Samastipur from the age of nine.
His rise has been meteoric. He garnered national attention after scoring 400 runs in just five matches of the Vinoo Mankad Trophy. Despite not performing as well as hoped in the India B Under-19 team, he quickly rebounded, making his first-class debut at the remarkably young age of 12 years and 284 days in January this year. This made him the youngest Indian to play first-class cricket since 1986.
Further cementing his place in cricket history, Suryavanshi smashed a century off just 58 balls in an Under-19 Youth Test match against Australia in Chennai, setting a new record for the fastest century by an Indian in a youth Test and the second-fastest globally. He also earned a place in the Indian team for the Under-19 Asia Cup in the UAE.
While some questions have arisen regarding his age, his father assures that Vaibhav underwent a bone-age test at eight and a half years old under BCCI supervision and is willing to undergo further testing if required. Rajasthan Royals, however, stated that they selected him based on his merit, after seeing him perform well in trials in Nagpur prior to the auction.
Suryavanshi is expected to make his IPL debut next year under the captaincy of Sanju Samson. The Rajasthan Royals’ official X account posed the question: “What were you doing at 13?”—a poignant reminder of the extraordinary achievement of this young cricketer.
First Piper 