14-year-old becomes youngest ever IPL player – and hits first ball for six

Indian Premier League, Jaipur

Lucknow Super Giants 180-5 (20 overs): Markram 66 (45), Badoni 50 (34); Hasaranga 2-31

Rajasthan Royals 178-5 (20 overs): Jaiswal 74 (52); Avesh 3-37

Lucknow Super Giants won by two runs

Fourteen-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi hit his first ball for six having become the youngest player to ever feature in the Indian Premier League.

Opening the batting for Rajasthan Royals in their two-run defeat by Lucknow Super Giants, Suryavanshi lifted India international Shardul Thakur over extra cover as he made an eye-catching 34 from 20 balls.

The left-hander also hit his third ball over the ropes and struck three fours plus one further six.

Suryavanshi, who only turned 14 last month and was signed at last year’s auction for £103,789 (1. 1 crore rupees), was particularly strong hitting down the ground and shared an opening stand of 85 with Yashasvi Jaiswal.

The teenager was eventually out stumped off South Africa’s Aiden Markram in the ninth over.

He took the record of spinner Prayas Rai Burman, who played one match for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2019, to become the youngest IPL player. Burman featured aged 16 years and 154 days.

Suryavanshi’s opening stand with Jaiswal put Rajasthan on course for victory in pursuit of 181 and Jaiswal went on to make 74 to put his side well in command.

But Jaiswal was dismissed at the start of the 18th over and Lucknow completed a dramatic turnaround as Avesh Khan defended nine from the last over.

Suryavanshi became the youngest player to be signed for the IPL when he was picked up at the auction after a bidding war last year.

He made headlines last October when he, also aged 13, scored a 58-ball century for India Under-19s in a Youth Test against Australia Under-19s in Chennai.

Suryavanshi was also part of India’s Under-19 Asia Cup squad last year. There he scored 176 runs at an average of 44.

He plays first-class cricket for Bihar, a state in eastern India where he grew up, and made his debut aged 12 last January.