New Zealand pacer Jacob Duffy has stated that the BlackCaps have done their homework on how to counter India’s teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. He was talking to reporters ahead of the first T20I of the five-game series between India and New Zealand, which begins on October 22 in Christchurch.

Sooryavanshi made quite an impression in his first two IPL seasons for Rajasthan Royals, scoring the fastest century in the IPL by an Indian in IPL 2026 and scoring 776 runs as well, winning the Most Valuable Player awards amongst other accolades.

This led to his India T20I debut in England, but he failed to make an impact in the three games he played, but then earned the Player of the Series against Zimbabwe, scoring two fifties. Since then, Sooryavanshi has been benched by the Indian team, despite being included in the Indian squad for the Afghanistan T20Is and the recent West Indies series.

He only played a couple of games in the Asian Games 2026 cricket event, where India won the gold medal.

Jacob Duffy recognized that Sooryavanshi had an exceptional capacity to strike the ball forcefully yet score at an amazing pace, noting that the New Zealand camp had carefully studied his game before the series.

"First of all, he's an incredible talent. Obviously, he's taken the IPL by storm, and what's amazing is he strikes it so hard, but he does it so consistently. He's striking at 250 (strike rate) every game, and he's not missing out very often. So that's incredible in itself. I think he played in England, so conditions will be a little bit different for him, so that's obviously one thing for him to be challenged with. We've certainly had a good scouting session on him and got our plans as to what we want to do to him,” Duffy told reporters ahead of the first NZ v IND T20I.

New Zealand intends to make Vaibhav Sooryavanshi work for his runs instead of allowing him to settle into a rhythm. Also, Indian fans will be looking forward to how Sooryavanshi deals with swing and seam conditions in New Zealand.

Duffy has already discussed the surface with the chief groundskeeper at Hagley Oval, and he hopes the pitch will help the bowlers enough to avoid a high-scoring match.

"As long as it's not Hyderabad, I'm happy,” Duffy said.

Apart from the five T20Is, India will also play five ODIs and two Tests on their tour of New Zealand.

(ANI inputs)