IPL diary: How a storm named Vaibhav Suryavanshi smashed T20 records

IPL: Vaibhav Suryavanshi, a gifted 14-year-old left-hander from Samastipur, Bihar, took the cricket world by storm on the night of April 28 by scoring a record-breaking century in the T20 format. His 35-ball ton broke Yusuf Pathan’s 2010 IPL record by two balls; now, only West Indian Chris Gayle is ahead of Vaibhav with his 30-ball IPL hundred in terms of fastest tons.

In overall senior T20 cricket — including the IPL — Vaibhav became the youngest batsman to score a T20 century at 14 years and 32 days, breaking the record of former India under-19 batsman Vijay Zol of Maharashtra. Zol was 18 years and 118 days when he scored a T20 century against Mumbai in 2013.

Everyone, including Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar, was astonished at Vaibhav’s achievement.

“Vaibhav’s fearless approach, bat speed, picking the length early, and transferring the energy behind the ball was the recipe behind a fabulous innings. End result: 101 runs off 38 balls. Well played!!” tweeted Sachin Tendulkar.

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Rahul Dravid’s reaction spoke volumes about the magnitude of the achievement. When Vaibhav reached his century with a pulled six off leg-spinner Rashid Khan, Dravid, who had been confined to a wheelchair with a fractured leg, jumped up in excitement, lost balance, but applauded profusely.

Dravid is believed to have played a key role in picking Vaibhav at the November IPL auction, where the teenager entered with a base price of Rs 30 lakh and was eventually snapped up by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 1.10 crore, outbidding Delhi Capitals. At the auction table, Dravid was visibly elated on securing Vaibhav.

On April 28, Vaibhav’s century powered Rajasthan Royals to a crucial victory over Gujarat Giants, opening a small window of hope for playoff qualification. After this win, Royals were placed eighth in the 10-team competition and must win all four of their remaining league matches to keep their hopes alive.

Other performances put in shade

Vaibhav’s blitz overshadowed several other notable performances last week. Among them was talented Delhi left-hander Priyansh Arya’s brilliant 35-ball 69 (8x4s, 4x6s) for Punjab Kings against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on April 26.

Arya, whom Punjab Kings bought for Rs 3.80 crore at last year’s auction following his exploits in the T20 Delhi Premier League, had earlier slammed a century against Chennai Super Kings on April 8. In Kolkata, he batted with the maturity of a seasoned professional, combining it with audacious strokeplay.

Bizarre dismissal

Besides the sublime, something bizarre unfolded last week.

In the match between SunRisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians on April 23 in Hyderabad, host team’s Ishan Kishan was dismissed in a most controversial manner. Pacer Deepak Chahar bowled a delivery on the leg side of the left-handed Kishan, and umpire Vinod Seshan immediately signalled it as a wide ball.

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However, for some strange reason, Kishan started walking towards the pavilion, thinking he had edged the ball to the wicketkeeper, who had caught it. After a moment of confusion, Seshan withdrew the wide signal and raised his index finger to declare Kishan out.

Significantly, neither the bowler nor the wicketkeeper had appealed — a prerequisite for an umpire to adjudge a batsman out. The bizarre episode triggered a free-for-all on social media, with many questioning the decision.