Sachin Tendulkar sings praises of 'truly special' Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

The 15-year-old had a breakout season with the Rajasthan Royals in the 2026 Indian Premier League, scoring 776 runs at a sparkling strike rate of 237.71.

He also smashed Chris Gayle's long-standing record for most sixes in an IPL season, which stood at 59 before he hit 72 this year.

Tendulkar believes Sooryavanshi is a truly special talent and urge coaches to let him develop playing his natural game and not to play around with his instincts and technique in the coming years.

"Everyone is talking about Sooryavanshi, and I watched him bat - it was magnificent," Tendulkar said.

"I mean he is something truly special. And not just the ability to hit the ball, but what also fascinated me was the wrist work that he has.

"To be able to play in all directions of the ground, you need good wrist work. And he is not slogging the ball. He is just picking the line and length earlier than the rest of the guys and he is able to clear the rope comfortably."

While the India legend agrees Sooryavanshi's game is suited to the short formats, he admits he would like to see him get a shot at Test cricket in the future.

"I would tell him to just be himself. There is always a first time. In Test cricket, along with age, he will learn how to deal with various challenges.

"Having a solution-oriented mindset. Problems are always going to be there. Problems will be there till the last day of your career, till the last ball you face.

"The bowler is asking a question every ball. Now, what solutions do you find? He's kind of a player who looks very confident, very, very sure of what he wants to do and I would not want to play around with his natural instincts.

"The way he sees the ball and the way he responds to that, if that signal is interrupted - if you put a lot of hurdles in between that by telling him multiple things - that's where the real challenge would be.

"I would give him the freedom to go out and bat the way he does. Along with time, he will learn to deal with other challenges of the game.

"Not just me, but everyone would want to see him playing Test cricket at some stage. I don't know when that is going to happen. But an exciting talent needs encouragement.

"And if he's doing well, then we need to encourage and support him and enjoy above all and not put pressure on him constantly, you know, he should play this, or he shouldn't be doing this, or he should be picked in whatever squad. Leave that to the guys [selectors] who are responsible for that."

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