Vaibhav Sooryavanshi: How Akshay Karanje, RR’s talent spotter, unearthed Bihar’s boy wonder

NEW DELHI: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, 15, is the toast of the nation. It's still early days in the 2026 edition of the Indian Premier League but the left-hander has everyone talking again. If last season was about his age and fearlessness, this season his audacity in taking on the best in the business is what has made him box office. His ability to take down Jasprit Bumrah, his approach against Trent Boult and his refusal to be overawed by the opposition - which featured the circuit's biggest names - stood out when he smoked a 14-ball 39, including five sixes (two off Bumrah), against the Mumbai Indians.

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Sooryavanshi vs Bumrah was highly anticipated, and the boy wonder walked away with the first round. The smile on Bumrah's face after being hit for a six off the first ball said it all. It summed up the moment and the occasion. It was as if Bumrah muttered to himself, "This kid can bat," when he returned to the mark to bowl the next delivery. To ensure the first wasn't a fluke, the 15-year-old sent another delivery into the stands, setting social media timelines on fire.

The youngster has been on song in the last few months, carrying his rich vein of form and audacious strokeplay from the U-19 World Cup into the IPL. Last season's familiarity has certainly helped and the first three games would have made Akshay Karanje, Rajasthan Royals' Talent Identification Coordinator, very proud. Somewhere between 2022 and 2023, Akshay casually dropped a text in RR's group alerting everyone about the "amazing young player" who deserves a look in.

The franchise acted swiftly, sending another scout to evaluate the youngster. An instant decision was made to summon him for the trials and after the thinktank saw him bat for the first time, they were convinced. Kumar Sangakkara, who is doubling up as Director of Cricket and Head Coach for the season, revealed the details of spotting Sooryavanshi during a press conference in Guwahati.

"I think it was in 2022 or 23 when one of our analysts told us, you know, there's this amazing young player called Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. So, Akshay Karanje, who's with us, sent a text on the group saying, I've seen this amazing young player and we really need to have a look at him. We had another scout who went and saw him as well and they were all like, yeah, we have to get him.

"And that's how, you know, we identified Vaibhav because of those changes we made in terms of our analysts and our scouting, investing time into that. And then, because of that insistence, we had Vaibhav come into our trials and anyone who sees Vaibhav in five minutes knows that it's not just talent," revealed Sangakkara.

The former Sri Lanka captain also explained how the franchise invested heavily in its scouting program to unearth young talents and shift its template from being reliant on experience to investing in youth.

"If you really look at how we structured our side in 2022, we had a lot of experience. We had Yuzi, we had Ashwin, we had Hetmyer, we had Buttler at the top, we were led by Sanju Samson. So, we had a lot of experience. So, we changed our philosophy a little bit. We also started looking after our players from all year round, really having an impact on how they grew.

"And then, we started to have better scouting, to have better analytics. So, we had quite a lot of change that really set us on that journey, becoming a better side, a side that performs more consistently. And then, of course, while doing that, we keep an eye out for great young players," said Sangakkara.

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Akshay, who has been with the franchise for over three years now, can proudly carry the Sooryavanshi spot as a feather on his hat for years to come. He not only unearthed a talent for the franchise but also found a diamond for the country. A diamond unlikely to lose its sheen in years to come.