 "Vijender Singh appeared to take a jibe at Vaibhav Suryavanshi over his age in a cryptic post on X. PTI/AP")
Boxing icon Vijender Singh sparked a discussion on age fraud in cricket with a post on social media on Wednesday, appearing to take a jibe at Rajasthan Royals’ opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who has been among the biggest talking points in the Indian Premier League since the mega auction in November.
“Bhai aaj kal umar choti ker ke cricket me bhe khelne lage (Players have started to lower their age in cricket as well),” Vijender wrote in a post on X on Wednesday, a couple of days after Suryavanshi’s historic 35-ball century against Lucknow Super Giants in Jaipur.
The timing of the Olympic medalist’ post naturally made netizens assume Suryavanshi was the batter he was referring to in his post. Here are are some of the reactions to his post:
Impact Shorts
More ShortsSuryavanshi had become the youngest player in IPL history in November when the Rajasthan Royals bought him for Rs 1.10 crore at the age of 13 .
The left-handed opener from Bihar would then become the youngest to play an IPL match after making his debut during RR’s away clash against Lucknow Super Giants 23 days after his 14th birthday.
And in the home game against Gujarat Titans a little over a week later, he would smash a 35-ball century to break even more records and help the Royals keep their playoff hopes afloat with a dominant eight-wicket victory, snapping their five-game losing streak in the process.
Suryavanshi’s age , however, has been a topic of debate, especially with an old interview of his going viral on social media. In the interview uploaded to YouTube in April 2023, the teenager claimed he would be turning 14 in September that year.
Which means Suryavanshi scored his maiden century in any format at the age of 15 – which is still an incredible feat given he flattened an attack comprising world-class leg-spinner Rashid Khan and senior India pacers Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Siraj.