vaibhav-suryavanshi

JAIPUR: Rajasthan Royals opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi, the youngest ever player in the IPL to debut on Saturday, scored 34 runs in 20 balls, including three sixes and two fours.

14-year-old Suryavanshi, now in Class 8th, made the opponents run for their money on Saturday. Vaibhav made his grand start to the IPL career by smashing the ball out of the park on his very first ball.

Although he struggled a bit with spinners, the wonderboy soon found his footing after stunning Lucknow's mystery spinner Digvesh Rathi with his effortless batting. When Suryavanshi was dismissed on the fourth ball of the ninth over, the Rajasthan Royals had scored 85 runs. The footage of Suryavanshi leaving the field in tears evoked a moving response from netizens and the crowd alike.

Batting first, Lucknow scored 180 runs for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs. In reply, Rajasthan fought hard but could only score 178 runs for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs.

Vaibhav, a native of Bihar, was born in 2011. Rajasthan bought Vaibhav for Rs 1.1 crore in the recent IPL mega auction. The schoolboy was brought as a replacement for captain Sanju Samson, who is yet to recover from an injury.