Rise of Suryavanshi: Facing 600 balls-a-day from age of 10 to playing 150km throwdowns

14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi's incredible rise in professional cricket, backed by a village of supporters, stuns the world.

It takes a village to raise a champion is an old saying and 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi fits that adage perfectly. The rise of Vaibhav is an incredible story where a range of people joined hands to ensure that a boy, barely in his teens, could play his first high-stakes match in professional cricket without a trace of fear.

He made the world sit up and take note of his talent by smacking Shardul Thakur for a six in the very first delivery he faced in IPL on Saturday (April 19, 2025).

Such a talent did not emerge overnight.

The foundation of this incredible story was laid when his father Sanjiv Suryavanshi sold his farmland to fuel his son's cricket dreams.

Taking it forward was Patna-based cricket coach Manish Ojha, who recognised the special talent and ensured that Vaibhav, all of 10 at that time, gets to face at least 600 deliveries a day to be ready for the big challenge when the opportunity knocks on the door.

Then Bihar Cricket Association backed its boy and fast-tracked him into Ranji Trophy just as when he hit the teens.

The U-19 national selectors, under chairmanship of Thilak Naidu. pushed him into ‘colts Test cricket’.