Vaibhav Suryavanshi: 12-year-old Bihar boy makes Ranji Trophy debut; emulates Sachin Tendulkar, others

Bihar’s Vaibhav Suryavanshi on Friday (January 5) became one of the youngest players to make a Ranji Trophy debut and emulated the legendary Sachin Tendulkar and other cricketers.

Suryavanshi’s age, as per the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) records is 12 years and 284 days. However, some reports claimed that the cricketer himself, in an old video, had said he would turn 14 in September 2023.

On Friday, Ranji Trophy 2023-24 season began across India with 19 matches being played.

According to his date of birth certificate, Suryavanshi, a left-handed batsman and a left-arm orthodox bowler was born on March 11, 2011.

He has already played for India B Under-19 team and has also featured in Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy and Vinoo Mankad Trophy.

Suryavanshi made his first-class debut (Ranji Trophy) on Friday against Mumbai at Patna’s Moin-ul-Haq Stadium.

Tendulkar made his first-class debut at the age of 15 years and 230 days, playing for Bombay (Now Mumbai) against Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy in 1988. Yuvraj Singh was 15 years and 57 days old when he played his maiden first-class match for Punjab against Orissa (Now Odisha) in 1997.

Overall in world cricket, Suryavanshi is the ninth cricketer to make his first-class debut at the age of 12 years.

Alimuddin is the youngest-ever first-class debutant, at the age of 12 years and 73 days. He played for Rajputana in the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Baroda in 1943.