The latest season of Ranji Trophy, India’s top-flight red-ball domestic competition, got underway across various venues in the country on Friday. As many as 19 matches are being played with 38 teams taking part.
Among the 418 players who have taken the field is a teenage boy from Bihar Vaibhav Suryavanshi who has made his first-class debut today in a Ranji Trophy match against Mumbai at the Moin-ul-Haq stadium in Patna.
Also Read: David Warner Has Found His Lost Baggy Green Cap
Vaibhav claims to be 14 years old and if true, it makes him one of the youngest debutants in India’s first-class history, younger than the likes of legendary Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh.
Yuvraj, who won two world titles with the Indian cricket team including player-of-the-tournament award at the 2011 World Cup, was 15 years and 57 days old when he played his maiden first-class match for Punjab against Odisha (then Orissa).
On the other hand, Tendulkar, widely regarded as one of the greatest batters to have played the game who retired and remains international cricket’s most prolific run-getter, was 15 years and 230 days old when he played his first match for Mumbai (then Bombay) against Gujarat.
The opening batter represented India B U19 team during a Quadrangular Under-19 series last year. The teenager scored 177 runs in six innings at an average of 29.50 including two half-centuries.
At the Vinoo Mankad Trophy last year, he finished as the tournament’s eighth top run-getter with 393 runs from five matches while averaging 78.60. He struck one century and three half-centuries.
In an interview, Vaibhav said he started playing cricket when he was nine years and took his early lessons from his father and is fond of the pull shot.
Bihar captain Ashutosh Aman opted to bowl first against 41-time Ranji champions Mumbai who lost their three top-order batters including both openers and India hopeful Sarfaraz Khan.
Comments
0 comment