Vaibhav Suryavanshi - the 14-year-old starlet of Rajasthan Royals - is the talk of the town after he smashed a 38-ball 101 against Gujarat Giants, registering the fastest hundred by an Indian in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.

He also became the youngest batter to score a hundred in the IPL. His hundred off 35 balls now ranks behind only Chris Gayle’s record for the fastest century in the tournament's history.

As Suryavanshi shone brightly in the spotlight, former India head coach Ravi Shastri said the youngster’s future will depend on how he deals with failure.

“I think the first shot he ever played (against Lucknow), that would have taken everyone’s breath away. But he is young, just let him play. I would say just let him play a bit because it is at that age, there is bound to be failure as well. It is how he handles failure, as people will come up with new things,” Shastri said on The ICC Review.

Suryavanshi smashed seven fours and 11 sixes during his innings, breaking former Royals batter Yusuf Pathan's record for the fastest hundred by an Indian - a 37-ball century set in 2010 against Mumbai Indians. Gayle still holds the overall IPL record (a 30-ball hundred for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against now defunct Pune Warriors in 2013).

The Bihar batter also surpassed Maharashtra’s Vijay Zol as the youngest player to hit an IPL hundred. Zol had set the record at 14 years and 118 days while batting against Mumbai; Suryavanshi broke it at the age of 14 years and 32 days.

Shastri noted that bowlers will now likely target the diminutive Suryavanshi with short balls. “There’ll be lots of short stuff thrown at him the next time he comes out to bat because when you tonk someone’s first ball for six, then you show no mercy. Then you don’t care whether he’s 14 years old or 12 years old or 20 years old. The menu is the same that you dish out. So, he’ll have to get used to that and once we see him handling that then you can make a proper judgement,” added Shastri.

Former Australia star Michael Hussey also heaped praise on Suryavanshi, comparing the youngster to a young Adam Gilchrist, the legendary wicketkeeper-batter of Australia.

“We felt this in Australia when Adam Gilchrist walked out to bat, the whole team would come into the viewing area, sit there and watch the game, because they’re just so exciting. I felt the same watching this young kid last night,” said Hussey, who is the batting coach of Chennai Super Kings.

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