Published: Mar 16, 2026, 05:10 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 16, 2026, 05:10 PM (IST)
The IPL 2026 season starts on March 28, and all eyes will be on 14-year-old batting sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi. The young Rajasthan Royals player created a storm last season with his fearless batting and is already aiming for two massive goals in the new season – one of them is breaking a huge record.
Vaibhav’s bat is in red-hot form. In the recent U-19 Cricket World Cup final against England, he smashed a stunning 175 off 80 balls, playing a key role in India winning a record sixth title.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi became the youngest player ever to sign an IPL contract. Rajasthan Royals bought him for Rs 1.10 crore in 2024 when he was just 13 years old.
The talented boy from Bihar is very happy with his team.
“I am happy playing for Rajasthan Royals because playing here has brought a lot of improvement in my life as well,” he said.
“For any young player, the first IPL camp is always exciting, and it was the same for me…”, he added.
Vaibhav shared his goals at the BCCI Naman Awards while talking to Star Sports.
“In this IPL season, my goal is to win the trophy for the team because it is very important…”
“This time my target is to break Chris Gayle’s mega record for the biggest individual score in IPL.”
Chris Gayle holds the record for the highest IPL individual score – 175 not out.
Earlier, India’s T20 World Cup-winning wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson shared a funny story from the Rajasthan Royals camp about young batting talent Vaibhav Suryavanshi and former head coach Rahul Dravid ahead of the 14-year-old’s IPL debut last season.
Sooryavanshi had an impressive first IPL season, scoring 252 runs in just 7 matches at a strike rate of 206.56. His best knock came against the Gujarat Titans – a stunning 101 off 38 balls, reaching his century in only 35 deliveries.
During the BCCI Annual Awards, Suryavanshi was asked if he remembered his first talk with Dravid and then-captain Samson before his debut. Before he could answer, Samson jumped in with the hilarious details.
“I was actually in a meeting at the time. Rahul Sir called him into the room and told me, ‘Sanju, we need to talk to him. He’s just a young kid; we need to guide him on how to go about things.’ So Rahul Sir asked him, ‘Vaibhav, what’s the plan?’ Vaibhav replied, ‘Kuch nahi sir, hum to khelenge. (Nothing special, Sir. I’ll just play). Then he asked ‘What is your game plan?’ and Vaibhav was like ‘Agar hume agar pehla mila to hum pehla hi uda denge (If I get the first ball, I’m just going to smash it), and I was like yeh alag video game hi khel raha hai (He is playing a completely different video game),” Samson recalled the moment.
The story brought loud laughter from everyone in the hall – even the usually calm Rahul Dravid couldn’t stop smiling.
