Basit Ali, a former middle-order batter for Pakistan, recently talked about Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s Indian Premier League debut with the Rajasthan Royals.
Basit criticised the negativity he would have encountered if the 14-year-old had been sent off for a low score while representing Pakistan.
“The child, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who is 14 years old. It’s a big deal that he hit that first ball for six. What might have happened if he had been out while attempting to knock the first ball for six? What would people have said? They would have said, ‘throw him out’ in Pakistan. However, Basit posted on his YouTube channel, “This is how confidence is given, which later pays off.”
During the same conversation, he continued to commend the Indian cricket system for supporting its young players in their early stages of development.
Give Abhishek Sharma a look. Take a look at Tilak. Take a look at Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal. After being granted the confidence and freedom to express themselves, they rose to prominence. And they will undoubtedly develop into excellent players if they play with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli,” Basit continued.
During his team’s run-chase against LSG, Suryavanshi was brought in as an Impact Player and hit the first ball he faced for a spectacular six over covers off Shardul Thakur’s bowling. Before dying for a thrilling 34-run knock off just 20 deliveries, he continued to blast two more sixes and as many fours. RR lost the game by a slim margin of a few runs.
At last year’s two-day mega auction in Jeddah, Suryavanshi was purchased for INR 1.1 crore. He had already competed for India Under-19 in the ACC Under-19 Asia Cup by that time. Additionally, he has made his Bihar debut in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Ranji Trophy in 2024–2025.
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