Vaibhav Suryavanshi

Raised in Samastipur, Bihar, Suryavanshi took up cricket under the guidance of his father, Sanjiv Suryavanshi, who served as his first coach. His father managed his early training routines, taking him to coaching sessions in Samastipur and enrolling him in district trials. Suryavanshi competed at under-16 district trials at eight years of age and completed his initial Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) bone verification test when he was eight and a half.

Suryavanshi progressed rapidly through the domestic ranks to earn selection for the India national under-19 team. In 2024, he scored a 58-ball century in a youth Test match against Australia Under-19. He subsequently finished as India's leading run-scorer at the Under-19 World Cup, highlighted by an innings of 175 runs from 80 balls against England in the final to lead India to the championship.

Suryavanshi gained widespread international attention in the Indian Premier League representing the Rajasthan Royals. Playing against the Gujarat Titans, he registered a 35-ball century that included 11 sixes against a bowling attack featuring international bowlers Mohammed Siraj, Ishant Sharma, Washington Sundar, Prasidh Krishna, and Rashid Khan. The innings made him the youngest player to score an IPL century at 14 years and 32 days old, surpassing Manish Pandey's 2009 record, while ranking as the second-fastest century in tournament history behind Chris Gayle's 30-ball mark.

His high-scoring form continued into the 2026 IPL season, where he accumulated 776 runs at an average of 48.5 and a strike rate of 237.3, hitting 72 sixes across the tournament. At the conclusion of the season, Suryavanshi received the tournament's Most Valuable Player award and won the Super Striker award for recording the competition's highest strike rate.