If you thought 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi is some flash-in-the-pan success story, think again. There is always a lot of work done in the background, that any average fan doesn’t know. And this eighth standard student is the same. He has gone through rigorous training ever since he was 8, and continues to do so.
From School to IPL 2025 — Vaibhav Suryavanshi
As per PTI, it all started with his father Sanjiv, taking him to an ex FC cricketer, Manish Ojha. There he started facing 600 deliveries everyday at the training; Bihar Cricket Association played its part too when they fast-tracked him to the Ranji Trophy when he was only 13. And was later drafted into the U-19 team as well.
Now, at RR he is under the watchful eyes of Rahul Dravid and Zubin Bharucha, where he is taking throwdowns of over 150 kmph. And the result is clear — he smashed 34 in 20 on his debut against LSG; start was with him smashing a six off Shardul Thakur.
Credit Goes to Father Sanjiv
“His father Sanjiv brought him to me when he was eight years old. Every child is different but from that age, if I look at other boys of his age, he had the sense to execute whatever he was taught. His stance, back-lift, execution, intent, the four pillars were always in sync,” Ojha told PTI talking about his ward.
So what really works for Suryavanshi? If you thought if was brute power, think again. “You people saw power in his shot, I saw the body position, bat swing and perfect timing. If power would be only criteria to hit sixes, then wrestlers would have played cricket.
“This is five years of training, playing 600 hundred balls every day. Other boys at academies would play may be 50 balls a day. I have uploaded around 40 videos of Vaibhav’s training sessions on YouTube. You will see his bat swing is like Yuvraj Singh,” the proud coach added.
Rahul Dravid Too Taking Care of Prodigy
Just after being bagged by the RR, he then had four camps conducted by the franchise. “He stayed back between the camps as it would have been very stressful for a then 13-year-old to travel regularly from camp to home and back,” a Royals source said.
Dravid and Bharucha also made sure, that they did not treat him differently. “You don’t want to create any difference in the preparation. This is to ensure everyone feels they are being pushed equally, so he knows he has to keep up to everyone else’s standards. A few tweaks like, we started making him play high pace (with the sidearms that can generate a speed over 150kmph) to get used to some of the faster bowlers that he might play in the IPL,” the source added.
