15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is now an international player for India. The left-handed batter from Bihar, who won the Orange Cap and the Most Valuable Player award in IPL 2026, made his India debut
against England in a T20I match at Old Trafford in Manchester on July 4, 2026. Since then, he has featured in six T20Is.
Vaibhav, the youngest player to represent India in international cricket, entered his name in the history books on Thursday (July 23) by becoming the youngest player in the world to score a half-century in international cricket. He played a knock of 50 runs from just 19 balls against Zimbabwe in the first T20I at Harare Sports Club.
The teenager, who has been the talk of the town since making his IPL debut for Rajasthan Royals against Lucknow Super Giants in April 2025, has already faced many of the world’s best bowlers in the IPL and enjoyed considerable success against them. He has hit sixes off the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Pat Cummins, Jofra Archer, Josh Hazlewood, and Kagiso Rabada, among others, while handling several other top-quality bowlers with ease.
During a recent interaction with a Rajasthan Royals presenter, Vaibhav was asked to name one bowler he would not want to bat against, and he came up with a savage four-word reply.
“Koi nahi hai abhi (No one for now),” Vaibhav said.
“IPL mein? Koi nahi nikla abhi tak waisa bowler (In the IPL? No such bowler has emerged so far),” he added.
From Vaibhav being starstruck the first time he met Ravindra Jadeja to the two becoming best friends in Pink. Only the IPL could write this story 💗😂 pic.twitter.com/7CA4Ze96sG
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) July 29, 2026
Senior India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who joined Rajasthan Royals from Chennai Super Kings in a trade deal ahead of IPL 2026, was also part of the interaction. When asked to name one bowler he would not want to face, Jadeja picked Jofra Archer.
“Jofra. Acha hai ye hamari team mein hai (It is good that he is in our team),” Jadeja said.
In IPL 2026, Vaibhav featured in all 16 matches for Rajasthan Royals and played a key role in helping the franchise qualify for the playoffs before reaching Qualifier 2.
When asked to name his favourite match of the season, Vaibhav picked Rajasthan Royals’ clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Barsapara Cricket Stadium on April 10. He also described his batting approach as fearless.
“Against RCB. Last year hum dono matches haare the aur bahut kuch un matches mein hua tha (We lost both matches against them last year, and a lot happened during those games as well).”
In that IPL 2026 match against RCB, Vaibhav scored 78 runs off just 26 balls at a staggering strike rate of 300.00 during a 202-run chase and helped Rajasthan Royals secure a win by 6 wickets.
