During the IPL 2025 mega auction in Jeddah last month, Bihar’s Vaibhav Suryavanshi hogged the headlines as he bagged a deal with the Rajasthan Royals for INR 1.10 Crore.
Since then, the 13-year-old has been accused of age fraud by a number of people. Former Pakistan cricketer Junaid Khan has also joined the bandwagon, questioning the age of the youngster.
Vaibhav recently took the Sri Lankan bowling attack to the cleaners in the U-19 Asia Cup match, and Junaid raised doubts if a 13-year-old is capable of hitting such massive sixes.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi finished the tournament as the joint highest-scorer for India. His best performance came against Sri Lanka where he smashed 67 runs with five boundaries and as many sixes.
Taking to Instagram, Junaid posted a video of that innings by Vaibhav and captioned it as, “Can a 13-year-old kid really hit such a long six?"
Earlier, Vaibhav's father Sanjiv Suryavanshi dismissed all sorts of allegations against his son’s actual age which many believe is 15 years.
"When he was 8 and half years old he first appeared for a BCCI bone test. He has already played India U-19. We don't fear anyone. He can again undergo age test," Sanjiv said in an interview with PTI.
His base price in the mega auction was INR 30 lakh and Delhi Capitals made the opening bid. RR entered the fray at INR 35 lakh and eventually secured his services.
"Rajasthan Royals had called him for trials in Nagpur. Vikram Rathour sir (batting coach) gave a match situation where he had to score 17 in an over. Bituwa ne 3 chakka mara. Trials mein aat chakka aur char chauwaa mara (He smashed three sixes. At trials, he hit eight sixes and four fours)," Sanjiv revealed.
(With PTI inputs)
