Vaibhav Sooryavanshi blasts maiden century as India U19 captain in South Africa, fires World Cup warning

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi slammed his third Y-ODI hundred in South Africa. (BCCI)

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi ensured that he would be the hottest property on show at the forthcoming edition of the ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup with another electrifying century in the third and final Youth ODI against South Africa Under-19 on Wednesday.

Standing in as captain in the place of injured Ayush Mhatre, Sooryavanshi stormed to his maiden century as captain, carrying the devastating form from the previous outing where he had blasted 10 sixes during a 24-ball innings. The dashing 14-year-old served up more of that to the Proteas colts, storming to a 63-ball century after South Africa opted to field first.

Forging a solid 200-plus opening stand with Aaron George, Sooryavanshi once again feasted on a bevvy of boundaries – eight sixes and six fours – to reach the milestone. The prodigy from Samastipur already holds the record for the fastest Youth ODI century, having smashed a 52-ball century against England U19 last year. He had also backed it up with a 56-ball hundred against the United Arab Emirates U19 later, making him the only batter with multiple centuries in under 60 balls in the format.

Moving past the century mark, Sooryavanshi eventually blasted 10 sixes, tallying 20 in total in his two recent outings at the Willowmoore Park in Benoni. His jaw-dropping numbers, 80 in 17 innings, are by far the highest at the U19 level.

He eventually holed out on 127, one short of Vijay Zol’s 128-run knock from 2013 in only his third appearance as captain, the second highest score by an Indian captain in Youth ODIs. Putting on 227 for the opening wicket, Sooryavanshi and George also broke the Indian record for the highest opening partnership.

With 973 runs at near-50 average, Sooryavanshi looks set to break the 1000-run barrier if he can relish a prolific Under-19 World Cup campaign. India will open their campaign against the United States of America at the Queen Sports Park in Bulawayo in Zimbabwe, followed by matches against Bangladesh and New Zealand in the group stage. Should Mhatre fail to recover in time for the tournament, Sooryavanshi is poised to lead India during the forthcoming edition of the global event.