India’s victory in the 2026 U-19 World Cup has many heroes, but one name stands out above the rest – Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. The 14-year-old prodigy stunned the cricketing world with a stunning performance in the final against England in Harare. Suryavanshi scored 175 goals from just 80 balls to help India win their sixth U19 World Cup title, rewriting records in the process, including setting his highest score in the U19 World Cup final.The audacity of his batting, coupled with a growing list of centuries at age-group level, has sparked a familiar debate in Indian cricket: should generations of talent be brought up quickly?
MPs are among those who have expressed strong support for the idea Shashi Tharoorwho directly compared Suryavanshi to one of the game’s greatest icons – Sachin Tendulkar.“Vaibhav Sooryavanshi deserves higher honors quickly. Last time we had a 14-year-old talent and his name was Sachin Tendulkar. We didn’t make him wait too long,” Tharoor wrote on X (formerly Twitter).This comparison is not without historical weight. Tendulkar did well in school and domestic cricket and in 1989, at the age of 16, he was inducted into the Indian team and made his international debut against Pakistan. His meteoric rise redefined Indian cricket for over two decades.However, unlike the Tendulkar era, Sooryavanshi faces a non-negotiable hurdle. Despite all the hoopla around him, the Bihar-born left-hander won’t be able to represent India at senior international level until March 2026. The obstacle is the minimum age policy introduced by the International Cricket Federation in 2020 to protect the physical and mental health of young cricketers. As per the rules, players must be 15 years or above to participate in international cricket matches.Sooryavanshi was born on March 27, 2011, and technically he will be only 14 years old in February 2026 when India win the World Cup. So no matter how many stunning 36-ball centuries he hits for Bihar or how many IPL bowlers he destroys for Rajasthan Royals, the national selectors have no choice but to wait.For now, even as influential voices like Tharoor echo Sachin’s precedent, Suryavanshi’s Indian dream remains on hold – at least until the calendar turns to March 27, 2026.
