Suryavanshi ton: unprecedented, mind-blowing, other-worldly

The adjectives came thick and fast: "remarkable," “mind-blowing,” "other-worldly," "unprecedented," "exceptional." Yet nothing could have truly prepared the cricket world for what unfolded on Monday night in Jaipur during IPL 2025. A 14-year-old kid, facing seasoned professionals with years of top-level experience, delivered a performance so astonishing that even Ian Bishop - a man who has witnessed more cricket than most - admitted, "It's hard to really speak logic to this."

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Vaibhav Suryavanshi, from Bihar, who turned 14 after this IPL started, took on a bowling attack of Rashid Khan, Mohammed Siraj, Ishant Sharma, Washington Sundar, Prasidh Krishna, Karim Janat and R Sai Kishore - 694 international caps between them - and smashed them for 101 runs in 38 balls. It was the second-fastest century in the IPL, and it was much else besides.

It might have come as a surprise to many, but not to Vikram Rathour, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) batting coach, who has been watching the INR 1.1 crore auction buy up close for the past few months.

"We have been watching it in [the] nets the last few months. So we knew what he was capable of and what kind of shots he can play," Rathour said in the press conference after RR had beaten Gujarat Titans (GT) by eight wickets, chasing down 210 with 25 balls in hand. "But to do it in front of this kind of crowd and in a situation like this, against a really good bowling attack, was really special.

"Saw him maybe four months back when he came for the trials. All of us knew we had found something special. It was up to us to nurture him and bring him to this level. Credit to him, he kept his nerve, he has a solid head on his shoulders, he has showed what he is capable of."

He certainly did, leaving Bishop and Varun Aaron searching for words on ESPNcricinfo's Time Out show.