Sanjeev Suryavanshi was glued to the television watching the Indian Premier League auction taking place thousands of miles away in Saudi Arabia.
It was the evening of November 25 and Sanjeev was praying that his 13-year-old son, Vaibhav, would be picked up in the IPL, the tournament in which the world’s top cricketers earn life-changing money for just a couple of months’ work.
At 8pm local time, it was Vaibhav’s turn to go up under the hammer. Delhi Capitals made the first move with a bid that sent Sanjeev running and jumping around the room in jubilation. And the offers kept coming as a bidding war ensued, with Rajasthan Royals eventually coming out on top with a price of £100,000.
Hundreds of neighbours and relatives, who were watching the auction on their smartphones outside the Suryavanshis’ two-storey house, hugged each other, handed out sweets and set off firecrackers as Vaibhav made history by becoming the youngest player ever picked for the IPL.
“I just wanted my son to be selected. For how much, that question never occurred to me,” 51-year-old Sanjeev tells Telegraph Sport at his home in Tajpur, a village in Bihar’s Samastipur district, where most of the locals are involved in farming.
Rahul Dravid will be Vaibhav’s coach, while England’s Jofra Archer and Indian superstar Yashasvi Jaiswal will be team-mates. Dravid heaped praised on the teenager after the auction. “He [Vaibhav] has some really good skills, so we thought it might be a good environment for him to grow in. He came to our trials and we were really happy with what we saw.”
India’s latest cricket prodigy, following in the footsteps of the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, has broken records left, right and centre. As well as being selected for the IPL, Vaibhav made history by becoming the youngest player to make his debut in the Ranji Trophy, the domestic first-class competition, and to represent his home state of Bihar in the domestic T20 championship.
Last November, during a four-day match against Australia Under-19s in Chennai, the left-handed opener also smashed 104 off just 62 balls, reiterating his class against players six years his senior.
Talking to the locals in Tajpur, everyone raises Vaibhav’s talent and dedication, but also the father’s resilience and determination to ensure his son’s dream came true.
Vaibhav was taken by his dad aged six to a cricket academy in Samastipur, which Telegraph Sport visited and watched hundreds of boys and girls practising on the dusty ground.
“The moment I saw him pick up a bat, I realised there is something about him,” Sanjeev says, whose constant ferrying of his son to cricket camps and matches meant he eventually had to close the family’s jewellery business. He now does a spot of farming in amongst mentoring the boy’s cricket career.
Throughout the boy’s childhood, Sanjeev would regularly buy three new cricket balls at £1 a piece in a region where a third of families make ends meet on a daily income of just £1.78p. He would throw the balls at his son in the nets he built outside their house and invited bowlers from the village, often twice his age, to ping deliveries at him.
He also extended the invitation to faster bowlers from other parts of the district, and would pay them travel expenses to test his son. Some of these adults would whizz the ball down at 80mph, despite Vaibhav being only nine years old.
“I would get scared, but I knew if I stopped, my son his career would be over,” Sanjeev explains. “Villagers would say I’m putting a heavy bet on my son. Because playing cricket was costing Vaibhav his studies and they would ask what job would he get if he didn’t succeed in cricket. But I knew he had the talent. Otherwise I would not have invested so much time and resources on him.
“I may not have played at professional level but I’ve seen enough to understand what is required. I never let him play with any [softer] ball because I wanted him to play professional cricket.”
At 11, Vaibhav smashed a double hundred in a 40-over match. A few months later, he scored an unbeaten 332 in an under-19 ODI tournament in Bihar.
Rakesh Tiwari, the Bihar Cricket Association president, said Vaibhav’s talent compelled them to pick him in big tournaments. Many criticised them for selecting a 12-year-old but Tiwari did not have to justify his decision for long. “His bat silenced every critic.”
Vaibhav has modelled his game on another left-hander in Brian Lara, whom he describes as his “idol”. He is also a fan of Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh, the free-flowing former Indian cricketers.
Vaibhav’s first coach in Samastipur, Brajesh Kumar Jha, says it gave him great pride that a player from his academy had made it to the IPL. He describes Vaibhav as a very hard-working cricketer who never backs down.
“He is a quick learner, a naturally attacking batsman and adapts quickly to situations... and behind his success lies determination and hard work.” He adds that Vaibhav would practise for several hours a day in searing Indian summer heat, proving his toughness.
“The success people see is purely the result of Vaibhav’s hard work,” Jha explains. “When a player from a small district like Samastipur, who would play here with all these young boys, makes it to the IPL, where he will get a chance to share the field or dressing room with greats of the game like Virat Kohli or Rahul Dravid, it’s a dream, not just for that cricketer but a coach like me too.
“You can’t explain how it feels to see him reach that level. It’s the dream I too had growing up but couldn’t fulfil.”
Vaibhav’s success at such a young age is already changing the game and inspiring those even younger than him.
Mohammad Shahbaz Alam brings his seven-year-old son Mustafeez Alam to the ground where Vaibhav used to practise. His dream is to see his son play for India one day. “Vaibhav’s selection gives us hope and motivates me to focus more on my son’s cricket,” Alam says.
Anush Purve, 12, is also looking to follow in Vaibhav’s footsteps. He is a wicketkeeper-batsman who has seen Vaibhav play in the flesh. At one time his parents would scold him for playing too much cricket. No longer. “They want me to work harder on my cricket now and be like Vaibhav.”
