On the eve of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 opener, India’s teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is celebrating his 15th birthday.
Sooryavanshi took the cricketing world by storm with his dazzling exploits in his debut IPL season in 2025. Playing for Rajasthan Royals, the swashbuckling left-hander amassed 252 runs in seven matches with a strike rate of 206.55. The highlight of his maiden IPL season was the mind-blowing 35-ball century against Gujarat Titans at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.
Sooryavanshi, at just 14 years and 32 days, became the youngest-ever batter to score a ton in the cash-rich league. His 101-run knock off 38 balls, studded with seven boundaries and 11 sixes, paved the way for RR’s eight-wicket victory in the chase of 210 with 25 deliveries to spare.
During the course of his whirlwind innings, Sooryavanshi broke Yusuf Pathan's 15-year-old record for the fastest IPL hundred by an Indian. His ton was the second fastest in the tournament history after Chris Gayle's century in 30 balls for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2013.
After a breakthrough IPL season, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi didn’t look back and rewrote record books, with notable performances in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26, ICC U19 World Cup 2026 among other tournaments.
The Bihar lad, at just 14 years and 272 days, became the youngest player ever to hit a List A century when his state team faced Arunachal Pradesh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He smashed 190 off 84 balls, and also set the record for the fastest 150 in Men's List A cricket in just 59 balls.
In November 2025, the southpaw slammed a sensational 32-ball hundred for India A against the UAE in the 2025 Asia Cup Rising Stars tournament. He finished with 144 runs off 42 balls, featuring 15 sixes, and became the youngest to score a T20 century for a national representative team.
This performance followed a record-breaking U19 World Cup in Zimbabwe, where he earned the Player-of-the-Tournament accolade.
Sooryavanshi finished India’s triumphant U19 World Cup campaign as the second-highest run-getter, amassing 439 runs in seven innings at an average of 62.71 and a strike rate of 169.49, including a jaw-dropping knock of 175 in just 80 balls in the final against England.
With him officially turning 15 on March 27, 2026, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi became eligible for senior international cricket under ICC player regulations.
As per the ICC rules, "A Player will only be eligible to represent a National Cricket Federation in an International Match (including ICC Events and U19 Events) if he/she is aged 15 or over on the relevant squad submission date (in the case of ICC Events including U19 Events) or on the date of the first match of the series/tournament to the played (in the case of all other International Matches)."
"However, the ICC acknowledges that in certain exceptional circumstances there may be justifications for allowing someone younger than 15 to play in an International Match. Where a National Cricket Federation considers that exceptional circumstances exist to justify allowing a player younger than 15 to play in an International Match, it may be open for the Exceptional Circumstances Committee to make such a determination."
In November 2020, the ICC introduced a minimum age restriction of 15 years for all international cricket, including U19 and senior matches. The rule was established to protect the mental development and physical safety of young players, and to ensure they can withstand the pressures of elite cricket.
If he does well in the IPL 2026 season, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi could receive his maiden India call-up for the two-match T20I series against Ireland, scheduled for June 26 and 28 in Belfast.
