Sanju who? 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi becomes youngest IPL centurion

Aged just 14 years and 32 days, Rajasthan Royals' Vaibhav Suryavanshi became the youngest centurion in the Indian Premier League on Monday.

The boy from Bihar smashed a 35-ball century against Gujarat Titans in Jaipur to make it the second-fastest century in IPL history after Chris Gayle's 30-ball ton for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2013. Suryavanshi overtook Yusuf Pathan in the list of centurions by taking two balls fewer than the former India international.

Suryavanshi hit 11 sixes and seven boundaries before being castled by Prasidh Krishna for 101 off 38 balls. Suyavanshi was ably supported by Jaiswal, who made an unbeaten 70 off 40 as RR chased down GT's 209/4 in just 15.5 overs, with eight wickets in hand. 

Earlier, when he got to the fifty from 17 balls, Suryavanshi also became the youngest half centurion in IPL. He broke the record held by his captain Riyan Parag, who was 17 when he hit a fifty in the IPL in 2019. RR's club captain Sanju Samson, who is currently injured, had hit a fifty aged 18 years and 169 days in 2013.

Suryavanshi’s explosive fifty made him the fastest joint-fifth in the history of the franchise event. Yashasvi Jaiswal's 13-ball fifty against Kolkata Knight Riders in 2023 is the fastest of all-time.

Some of the famous names who have hit 17-ball fifties in the IPL, include Chris Gayle, Keiron Pollard, Adam Gilchrist, Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran and Hardik Pandya.

Suryavanshi is filling in for Sanju, who has only restarted training after being sidelined with a side strain. Suryavanshi scored a quickfire 34 against Lucknow Super Giants on his debut before adding a 12-ball 16 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

It would be interesting to see how RR accommodate the boy when Sanju regains match fitness. RR had signed up Suryavanshi for Rs. 1.1 crore in the Mega Auction held last November, when he was still just 13.