Sipu Jha
India’s Under-19 World Cup triumph in 2026 had many heroes, but one name towered above the rest — Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. In the final against England in Harare, the 14-year-old prodigy delivered a breathtaking performance that left the cricketing world stunned. Smashing 175 off just 80 balls, Sooryavanshi powered India to their sixth U19 World Cup title and rewrote record books in the process, including registering the highest individual score in a U19 World Cup final.The sheer audacity of his strokeplay, combined with a growing list of centuries at age-group level, has triggered a familiar debate in Indian cricket circles: should generational talents be fast-tracked?
Among those voicing strong support for the idea is Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who drew a direct parallel between Suryavanshi and one of the game’s greatest icons — Sachin Tendulkar.“Vaibhav Sooryavanshi deserves to be fast-tracked into higher honours. The last time we had a 14-year-old genius at the crease, his name was Sachin Tendulkar. And we didn’t keep him waiting long,” Tharoor wrote on X (formerly Twitter).The comparison is not without historical weight. Tendulkar, after piling up runs in school and domestic cricket, was ushered into the Indian team in 1989 at just 16 years of age, making his international debut against Pakistan. His rapid ascent went on to redefine Indian cricket for over two decades.Yet, unlike Tendulkar’s era, Sooryavanshi faces a non-negotiable roadblock. Despite the clamour around him, the Bihar-born left-hander cannot represent India at senior international level until March 2026. The obstacle lies in the ICC’s Minimum Age Policy, introduced in 2020 to protect young cricketers’ physical and mental well-being. Under the regulation, a player must be at least 15 years old to feature in international cricket.Born on 27 March 2011, Sooryavanshi was still technically 14 at the time of India’s World Cup triumph in February 2026. As a result, regardless of how many blistering 36-ball centuries he piles up for Bihar or how many established IPL bowlers he dismantles for the Rajasthan Royals, the national selectors have no choice but to wait.For now, even with influential voices like Tharoor echoing the Sachin precedent, Sooryavanshi’s India dream remains on pause — at least until the calendar turns to 27 March 2026.
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