The Spin | Teenager Sooryavanshi from ‘a different planet’ but superstardom not guaranteed

6 hours ago 2

When Jasprit Bumrah stood at the top of his mark for the Mumbai Indians against Rajasthan Royals in this year’s Indian Premier League, he was the most complete all-format bowler in history. With a whiplash action that explodes from a staccato run-up like a stick of dynamite from unraveling silk, he fires searing yorkers and steepling bouncers at will. Three balls later, he was the setup for the story’s real protagonist.

Before this moment, Bumrah, winner of five IPLs and two World Cups, had delivered 5,445 balls in T20 cricket for Mumbai and his country. Only 180 of them were sent sailing over the rope for six. That’s a maximum, to use the parlance of the day, every five overs. Since 2013 he has been a walking cheat code, the point of difference in almost every game. None of that seemed to matter to 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

Bumrah’s first ball to the kid not old enough to drive was spanked over wide long-on. His third was hoiked over deep-backward square. In half an over, Sooryavanshi had outperformed all the world’s batters by nearly 1,900%. Once we’d stopped wondering if we could believe our eyes, we started to wonder if we were witnessing the nascent steps of cricket’s next superstar?

“The short answer is we can’t know for sure, and anyone who tells you differently is lying,” says David Court, head of player identification at the England and Wales Cricket Board. “It’s a multitude of factors and the interplay between them. If you’re searching for one golden nugget, you’re selling yourself short.”

Court’s job is, in essence, to try anyway. He oversees the identification and development of England’s best young players, while managing a network of scouts tasked with finding the next Joe Root or Jimmy Anderson. It is an exercise in informed guesswork, complicated by the fact that teenage excellence is both common and misleading.

“There are things we can look for,” Court says. “Talent is one thing, but what we’re really after is mental toughness. That sounds vague and manifests in multiple ways, but essentially it boils down to finding a way through adversity.”

A 2012 paper published by Sports Medicine, titled “The Rocky Road to the Top: Why Talent Needs Trauma”, shows that talent benefits from obstacles on the path to success. These aren’t necessarily dramatic. In cricket terms this could be a run of poor scores or opposition batters figuring you out as a bowler. What separates those who endure from those who don’t is not the absence of these moments, but their response to them over time and under pressure. Court namechecks two of England’s rising stars.

“I remember watching Jacob Bethell and James Rew batting against Australia in a youth Test,” Court says, recounting the third innings of the game in Brisbane in 2023. “It was so hostile. The Aussies really gave it to them. But they were calm. Jacob scored a ton [123] and James got a high score [62]. I remember thinking: ‘These guys have got it.’”

Court is particularly excited to see how Sooryavanshi adjusts when that inevitable lean patch arrives. So too is Paul Adams, the former South Africa wrist-spinner turned coach who got to watch the young Indian starlet up close during the recent Under-19 World Cup, where he scored 439 runs – including 163 against England in the final – with a strike-rate of 169.49.

“He’s from a different planet,” says Adams, who was a young sensation in his own right, making his Test debut at 18 against England in 1995. “I’m interested if he has a plan other than just smacking it when top bowlers start figuring him out, because they will.”

Adams stood at this crossroads himself. With an action that Mike Gatting likened to a “frog in a blender”, he delivered the ball with flailing limbs as he released the ball while looking towards the sky. In his first three series, “Gogga” as he was known (Afrikaans for insect), claimed 31 wickets at an average of 25.

“My strength was that I was unique,” Adams says. “I think it’s important for all youngsters who make the step up to have something unique about them. But you can’t rest on that. Once batters started to pick my googly, and they started playing me off the pitch a bit more, I had to develop different plans. It’s not easy. I’ve seen a lot of top youngsters fall away because they couldn’t adapt.”

Much of this has to do with their environment. “We try to create scenarios that are competitive, relentless, hard-working, but also supportive,” Court adds. The balance is delicate. Too little pressure and a player never develops the tools to cope. Too much, too early, and they risk being overwhelmed.

Adams came through a different, more Spartan era. “It was sink or swim,” he says. “There wasn’t much care for young players. It was on you to prove that you belonged. I see the love that Vaibhav gets and it looks totally alien to what my generation had.”

Court concurs: “It’s so different. Yes there’s more appreciation for soft skills, but there are other variables at play. Lads get a few runs at a World Cup and suddenly they’ve got thousands more followers. They hit one boundary in a game and that’s instantly posted on their socials. They’re dealing with that while they’re still playing.”

Sooryavanshi has 3.8 million followers on Instagram. His fame has outpaced the glut of runs that cannon off his bat. His challenge from here will be far more complex than simply spanking the world’s best bowler.