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Vaibhav Suryavanshi has made himself a prime target of bowlers after a whirlwind century, feels former India allrounder Ravi Shastri.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi struck a 35-ball century. (BCCI Photo)
Vaibhav Suryavanshi has become a global sensation after becoming the youngest ever cricketer to hit a T20 century. The 14-year-old was fearless against world-class pace attack of Gujarat Titans as he plundered seven fours and 11 sixes to bring up a 35-ball century and become the quickest ever Indian to the milestone. He showed no mercy to the likes of Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar and Karim Janat and his whirlwind knock helped Rajasthan Royals chase down a 200-plus target comfortably.
While Ravi Shastri is impressed with Suryavanshi’s approach, he wants to see how the teenager will handle failure as opponents are now going to test him even more given, he has put himself in their crosshairs after a stunning hundred.
“I think the first shot he ever played (against Lucknow Super Giants), that would have taken everyone’s breath away,” Shastri told host Sanjana Ganesan on The ICC Review.
“But he’s young, just let him play. I would say just let him play a bit because it’s at that age, there’s bound to be failure as well. It’s how he handles failure, as people will come up with new things,” he added.
Shastri, a former India allrounder and head coach, feels Suryavanshi will have to gear up for a lot of bouncers as the bowlers will not care about him being a kid.
“There’ll be lots of short stuff thrown at him the next time he comes out to bat because when you tonk someone’s first ball for six, then you show no mercy,” he said.
“Then you don’t care whether he’s 14 years old or 12 years old or 20 years old. The menu is the same that you dish out. So, he’ll have to get used to that and once we see him handling that then you can make a proper judgement,” he added.
