 "Young left-handed opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi has been named Bihar's vice-captain for the first two rounds of the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy. PTI")
It’s been an extraordinary year so far for young Vaibhav Suryavanshi. Not only did the cricket prodigy from Bihar become the youngest to feature in an Indian Premier League match at the age of 14 years and 23 days earlier this year, he ended up smashing the second-fastest hundred in the league’s history in just his third match.
And after an extraordinary debut season in the IPL, in which he scored 252 runs in seven outings at a strike rate of 206.56, the left-handed opener would continue scoring runs by the truckloads in subsequent youth tours of England and Australia.
Suryavanshi had finished as the leading run-scorer in the five-match one-day series in England that the Indians won 3-2, scoring 355 runs at an average of 71. And in the tour Down Under, he added a red-ball century to his name, smashing 113 off 86 deliveries against the Aussie U-19 side in Brisbane recently.
Vice-captain Suryavanshi
On Monday, Suryavanshi experienced the biggest moment in his nascent career since his 35-ball century against Gujarat Titans in Jaipur , with the 14-year-old being named Bihar’s vice-captain for the upcoming Ranji Trophy season.
The announcement came just two days before the start of the 2025-26 edition of India’s premier domestic competition, in which Suryavanshi has been named vice-captain for the first two rounds of the season. The Bihar Cricket Association (BCA), which currently has just two members in its selection committee and is in a hurry to get to the five-member mark at the earliest, named Sakibul Gani the captain of the 15-member squad.
Another significant moment in his nascent career
The promotion to the role of vice-captain marks a significant moment in Suryavanshi’s career, with the teenager gaining further recognition at the senior level after his dream IPL debut earlier this year. His 78-ball century in the first four-day match in Brisbane during the youth tour of Australia will have further convinced the selectors of his red-ball potential after his success in white-ball cricket.
Suryavanshi has played five First-Class matches so far for Bihar, scoring 100 runs with a highest score of 41, and will be eyeing a more productive season with the bat later this winter.
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And while a stellar Ranji season might not lead to Suryavanshi getting fast-tracked into the Test team given more established red-ball players such as Bengal opener Abhimanyu Easwaran are yet to make their debut, it certainly will help him get noticed by the selectors.