Opening batter Vaibhav Suryawanshi starred with a consecutive half-century to help his team into the U-19 Asia Cup Final as they beat Sri Lanka U19 by seven wickets in Sharjah.

The 13-year-old batter became the youngest cricketer ever to be brought in the IPL Auction. He smashed 67 off 36, including six fours and five sixes helping his team chase the target with 170 balls to spare.

India will lock horns with Bangladesh in the final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday. Bangladesh U-19 also defeated Pakistan U-19 by seven wickets as they chased the target of 117 in 22.1 overs quite comfortably. The surprising thing is that both the sides Pakistan U-19 and Sri Lanka U-19 won all their league games but they won't be playing the Final now. India U-19 started their campaign with a defeat against Pakistan U-19 by 43 runs but bounced back in style to storm into the Finals. 

Sri Lanka U-19 opted to bat first but managed to score 173 in 46.2 overs even after contributions from Lakvin Abeysinghe (69 off 110) and Sharujan Shanmuganathan (42 off 78). Indian bowlers were in full control as Chetan Sharma 3 for 34, Kiran Chormale 2 for 32 and Ayush Mhatre (2 for 37) restricted Sri Lanka U-19 to 176.

Ayush Mhatre shined with the bat as well as he scored 34 off 28 and added 91 runs for the opening stand with Vaibhav Suryawanshi. Vaibhav went berserk behind the Sri Lankan bowlers as he started with back-to-back sixes and a boundary off Sigera who gave away 31 runs in his opening over.

 Vihas Thewmika gave Sri Lanka the first breakthrough as he dismissed Ayush Mhatre for 34. But Vaibhav Suryawanshi kept batting with C Andre Siddharth who scored 22 off 27. Vaibhav was dismissed by Praveen Maneesha for 67 off 36 balls.

Skipper Mohamed Amaan 25*(26) and KP Karthikeya 11*(14) completed the chase in 21.4 overs.

After 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi became the youngest player to be picked in the IPL auction history, he entered into controversy.

On the second day of the IPL 2025 mega auction, Vaibhav Suryavanshi was involved in a little bidding war between Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals from his base price of INR 30 lakh. Ultimately, the Royals won the bid for INR 1.10 crore. While Suryavanshi was already in the news for his cricketing talents, the little bid war wasn’t a surprise. In fact, even a little more bidding war wouldn’t surprise.

According to the official IPL website, Vaibhav Suryavanshi was 13 years old at the time of the auction. However, he is in the controversy for the age-fudging.

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Vaibhav Suryavanshi's age confusion

The controversy has been raised after the resurfacing of one of his old interviews, which confuses his real age. In April 2023, BNN News Benipatti uploaded an interview with Vaibhav, where the teenage cricketer claimed that he would be 14 years old in September. According to this report, Vaibhav should be 15 years old during the IPL 2025 mega auction.

Even if the controversial video is correct, Vaibhav would still be the youngest player to be signed in the IPL auction history. The 16-year-old Prayas Ray Barman was the previous record holder in this list when the Royal Challengers Bangalore (presently Royal Challengers Bengaluru) bought Barman for INR 1.50 crore from the IPL 2019 auction. 

Father is confident

While Vaibhav is in the age-fudging controversy, his father is confident and ready to go through the necessary tests to prove Vaibhav’s official age is correct.

Vaibhav’s father told the PTI, “When he was 8 and half years old he first appeared for a BCCI bone test. He has already played India U-19. We don’t fear anyone. He can again undergo age test.”

Putting the controversy aside, Vaibhav has an opportunity to become the youngest player in IPL history. Even if he doesn’t get an opportunity in the IPL 2025, he still has a great opportunity to develop his skills under the head coach, Rahul Dravid. 

In recent times, 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi has been in the news for creating histories at a very early age. After he became the youngest cricketer to be present for the IPL 2025 mega auction, Rajasthan Royals picked him, making him the youngest to be picked in the IPL auction history.

Earlier, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the 574 players names for the mega auction of the IPL 2025. Vaibhav Suryavanshi was one of the uncapped Indian players out of 318 uncapped players. While he was the 491st player in the mega auction list, he was the 69th player in the uncapped batter category (UBA9).

On the second day of the mega auction for the IPL 2025, Rajasthan Royals (RR) picked the early teenager Suryavanshi for INR 1.10 crore. His base price was set for INR 30 lakh, from where Delhi Capitals opened the bidding war. It will be interesting to see if he makes his IPL debut in the upcoming IPL 2025. Whatever, the teenage cricketer will be prepared by the new RR head coach Rahul Dravid, who already played an important role in developing the present generations of Indian cricket as the India U19 and India A head coach. 

SEE ALSO: IPL 2025 Mega Auction: Rajasthan Royals (RR) buys and complete updated squad

Vaibhav Suryavanshi has already experienced first-class cricket

At the age of 12 years and 284 days, Suryavanshi made his first-class debut. He was the second youngest player to make a first-class cricket debut in Indian cricket. Since his debut for Bihar in January 2024, he has played five first-class matches where the left-handed batter has scored 100 runs, with his highest score of 41 runs. As a left-arm spinner, he has also taken one wicket. 

Suryavanshi scored a century against Australia U19

Last September, while Australia U19 toured India for a two-match Youth Test series, Suryavanshi scored a century at Chennai. With that century at the age of 13 years and 187 days (age as per the start of the Youth Test match), he became the youngest cricketer to hit a century in U19 Test history. He scored 104 runs in the first innings of that match. 

According to the data available, Suryavanshi broke the record of Pakistan cricketer Nasir Jamshed, who set the record at the age of 15 years and 102 days (age as per the start of the Youth Test match). 

Suryavanshi also participated in the Quadrangular U19 ODI series 2023

In November 2023, Suryavanshi served for India B U19 in the Quadrangular U19 ODI series and scored 177 runs in six innings with an average of 29.50 and a strike rate of 90.30, including two half-centuries.