Follow UsVaibhav Sooryavanshi has been the real sensation in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. He started with a flourish, hitting Shardul Thakur of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for a first-ball six and then finished in style, hitting a composed 33-ball 57 against Chennai Super Kings (CSK). So where and how did Rajasthan Royals (RR) find such a gem?
Answering this, Vikram Rathour, the batting coach of RR, said, “There is a team at the back end, which is watching all kinds of leagues, observing all kinds of players. They recommended him after he scored that hundred against Australia U-19.”
“Honestly, when I saw him for the first time, I was sold. Just with that downswing of his bat, we could see he was going to play for a long, long time, and now he has shown he has a very good temperament as well,” added the former India international.
Talking about the 14-year-old’s knock against CSK, Rathour said, “We have been working with him for quite some time now. It's been 3–4 months. We’ve seen all his aspects, but it's great to see when he is doing that in a game, under pressure.”
Most impressive about Vaibhav’s knock against CSK, according to Rathour, was his ability to buy time and then play his shots, contrary to what he had done in past matches, where he wanted to tear apart the leather right from the word go.
“Today, the ball was moving, he hardly got any balls in the powerplay to hit. But the kind of maturity he showed, the kind of temperament he showed, was very good for him. These kinds of innings are only going to make him a better batter,” said the former India batting coach.