Vaibhav Suryavanshi

Vaibhav Suryavanshi (born 27 March 2011) is an Indian cricketer who plays for Bihar in domestic cricket and the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League. A left-handed batsman, he made his first-class debut for Bihar in the Ranji Trophy in 2024 at the age of 12. Later that year, he became the youngest player ever to sign a contract in Indian Premier League, joining the Rajasthan Royals at age 13 for ₹1.10 crore and became the youngest player to feature in List-A cricket.

Suryavanshi hails from the village of Tajpur, located approximately 10 kilometers from Samastipur in the state of Bihar.^[1] He started playing cricket at the age of nine years old, and was initially coached by his father.^[2]

He played as a 12-year-old the Vinoo Mankad Trophy for Bihar U19.^[3][2] He made his first-class debut for Bihar in the Ranji Trophy against Mumbai at the reported age of 12 years and 284 days old, in January 2024.^[4][5] In doing so, he became the second youngest cricketer to play in the Ranji Trophy for Bihar, and the fourth youngest overall.^[6] He became the youngest player in the modern era, beating the record of Yuvraj Singh (15 years and 57 days) with Alimuddin holding the overall record for the youngest Indian first-class debutant at just 12 years and 73 days old in the 1942-43 season for Rajputana.^[1]

In November 2024, he became the youngest player to sign a contract in the Indian Premier League when he joined the Rajasthan Royals aged 13 years, for ₹1.10 cr (around £105,000).^[7] In December 2024, he became the youngest player to feature in List-A cricket, appearing for Bihar in the Vijay Hazare Trophy against Madhya Pradesh in Hyderabad at the age of 13 years and 269 days.^[8]

In 2023, he played for the India B U19 side in a Quadrangular Under-19 series, scoring 177 runs in six innings, including two half-centuries.^[2]

In September 2024, he made his debut for India U19 in a youth test match against Australia U19.^[9] On debut, he struck a 58 ball century, the fastest for an India U19 player, before being run out for 104. His innings included 14 boundaries and 4 sixes.^[10][11] It was the second-fastest century in U19 cricket history after Moeen Ali's 56-ball effort for England U19 in 2005.^[12]

At the 2024 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup, Suryavanshi scored 76 off 46 balls against UAE U-19,^[13] followed by 67 runs from 36 balls against Sri Lanka U-19 in the semifinal.^[14]

Doubts have been raised over the authenticity of Suryavanshi's official date of birth.^[15] In an interview in 2023, Suryavanshi had mentioned that his 14th birthday was on 27 September 2023, which suggests he was about a year and a half older than his official age.^[16]