Vaibhav Suryavanshi became an overnight sensation when Rajasthan Royals first bought the 14-year-old for Rs 1.1 Crore during the mega-auctions. On Saturday, when he hit a 20-ball 34, it seemed like it was routine stuff for the teen. He made the world sit up and take note of his talent by smacking Shardul Thakur for a six in the very first delivery he faced in IPL on Saturday.
The rise of Vaibhav, a teenager from Bihar's Samastipur, is an incredible story that began when his father, Sanjiv Suryavanshi, sold his farmland so that his son could chase his cricket dreams.
"His father Sanjiv brought him to me when he was eight years old. Every child is different but from that age, if I look at other boys of his age, he had the sense to execute whatever he was taught. His stance, back-lift, execution, intent, the four pillars were always in sync," said Patna-based cricket coach Manish Ojha in a chat with PTI.
"You people saw power in his shot, I saw the body position, bat swing and perfect timing. If power would be only criteria to hit sixes, then wrestlers would have played cricket. This is five years of training, playing 600 hundred balls every day.
"Other boys at academies would play may be 50 balls a day. I have uploaded around 40 videos of Vaibhav's training sessions on YouTube. You will see his bat swing is like Yuvraj Singh," Ojjha added.
Praising Suryavanshi senior for his sacrifices, Ojha said, "His parents are amazing. His father would travel 100 km up and down every second day to take him for matches. The mother was very particular about his diet. If someone plays 600 balls per day, he would need more nourishment in terms of protein.
"Since Vaibhav trained for extra hours, Sanjiv ji would pack 10 tiffin boxes. One for Vaibhav and rest for all the net bowlers, who devoted extra time bowling to him. Arranging food for 10 boys every second day. You will know how much it can strain your pocket. But they knew cricket was his calling and they invested everything in that," Ojha said.
"By the way I saw that I was quoted that he has stopped eating pizzas but he never ate them so there was no question of stopping. And yes, he eats mutton because protein is necessary," the coach concluded.
Meanwhile, as part of his IPL preparation, the Royals left no stone unturned and had him face high-speed deliveries to enhance his skills. "We started making him play high pace (with the sidearms that can generate a speed over 150kmph) to get used to some of the faster bowlers that he might play in the IPL," said a source close to the RR camp.
(With PTI inputs)
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