Vaibhav Suryavanshi wreaked havoc with the bat in the recently passed 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL).
Former India batter Ambati Rayudu has reserved big praise for teenage sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi after he wreaked havoc with the bat in the recently passed 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL). Rayudu has pointed out the left-hander’s special talent and advised him to learn from West Indies legend Brian Lara, who possessed a similar batting technique.
Lara played a total of 131 Test matches in which he made 11,953 runs with the help of 34 centuries and 48 fifties. In a total of 299 ODI matches, the legendary batter smashed 10405 runs, including 19 hundreds and 63 fifties. Back in the 2023 IPL season, Lara was appointed as the head coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) after giving his services as the team’s batting coach and strategic advisor in 2022.
While playing for the Rajasthan Royals, the 14-year-old Vaibhav smashed a brilliant century against the Gujarat Titans in his third match. The Bihar-based batter collected 101 off 38 balls with the help of seven fours and 11 sixes, and as a result, the Royals managed to chase down a total of 210 runs with 25 balls to spare. Cricketer-turned-commentator Ambati Rayudu has lauded Vaibhav’s bat speed and suggested he should seek help from Brian Lara.
“His bat speed is extraordinary. I hope nobody changes that. He should get better. Someone like Lara… maybe go and talk to him. He also had a similar type of bat lift. So he can learn about how to control the bat speed when you are defending and when you are playing with a soft hand. So if he learns that, then he will be an extraordinary talent,” said Rayudu on Shubhankar Mishra’s podcast.
According to Rayudu, Vaibhav has the potential to become one of the best players in the future if he gets a good mentorship. The former Indian batter advised him to back his natural game.
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“He only has to focus on one thing, and that is he should not listen to many people. Don’t listen to people; just back your talent,” he added.
On the back of a terrific century, the left-hand batter surpassed Yusuf Pathan to register the fastest hundred by an Indian in the IPL. While playing in the IPL 2025, Vaibhav featured in seven games where he hammered 252 runs with the help of a century and one fifty. He batted with an average of 36.00 with a strike rate of 206.56. He continued his IPL run for the India U19 team with the teenage batter smashing a scintillating 52-ball century, the fastest ever in Youth ODIs.
However, the Royals failed to make an impact during the IPL 2025 season as they ended the campaign in the second-last spot in the points table. They played a total of 14 matches, winning just four games. The Rajasthan-based franchise is likely to retain Vaibhav for the upcoming IPL 2026, citing his batting heroics in last year’s edition of the cash-rich league.
