Sooryavanshi's prodigious 175 ensures India winning U19 WC 2026

I am an avid fan of the game of Cricket – when we grew up, it was torrid time, India would be beaten by pace merchants and would struggle to win one odd match in Overseas tour – while 1970s were the story of weak batting line-up, in early 1980s scores of 230+ were defendable in ODIs  - a run rate of 6+ in final five or more was considered herculean … .. life has changed a lot 

Today was awe-struck to see the exploits of young Vaibhav Sooryavanshi – what a methodical madness to his hitting – more sixers flowing into unheralded places as he galloped to that magical 175 !!  reminiscing the glory of Kapil Dev back in 1983 against Zimbabwe at Trentbridgewells. 

Mithila, also known as Tirhut, Tirabhukti and Mithilanchal, is a geographical and cultural region of the Indian subcontinent bounded by the Mahananda River in the east, the Ganges in the south, the Gandaki River in the west and by the foothills of the Himalayas in the north.  It comprises of  certain parts of Bihar and Jharkhand states   and adjoining districts of the Koshi Province, Bagmati Pradesh and Madhesh Province of Nepal. The native language in Mithila is Maithili.  Mithila is commonly used to refer to the Videha Kingdom. 

Mithilā is one of the most significant pilgrimage sites in Jainism. Apart from its association with Mahavira, it is associated with some  Tirthankaras.  This is a post on Cricket about a young kid from Mithila region. 

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was born on 27 March 2011 in Tajpur, a town in the Samastipur district of the Mithila region of Bihar.  Recognising his talent at a very young age, his father enrolled him at Manish Ojha's GenNex Cricket Academy in Patna when he was eight years old. Vaibhav and his father used to travel approximately 100 km from Samastipur to Patna on alternate days for his training sessions.   

Today in the finals of ICC U19 WC 2026 – the scorecard weaves a magic tale.  It reads :  India 411 for 9 (Sooryavanshi 175, Mhatre 53, Kundu 40, Minto 3-63) beat England 311 (Falconer 115, Dawkins 65, Ambrish 3-56, Chouhan 2-63) by 100 runs

 

Today the whiz kid Vaibhav Sooryavanshi once again gave a great lasting  demonstration of his prodigious talent with a record-breaking innings in Harare as India completed a dominant run at the Under-19 World Cup, swatting aside England's challenge to lift the trophy for the sixth time.  

Sooryavanshi, showcased his full range of scoring in an audacious knock of 175 off just 80 balls to almost single-handedly extinguish England's hopes after India had opted to bat. When he was third out, India were 251 for 3 in the 26th over and hypothetically on track to score 500. No one could keep up with Sooryavanshi's rate, but cameos down the   did take India past 400 for the first time in a Youth ODI between Full Member nations.  

Having cruised to fifty from 32 balls, he took just 23 more to bring up his first century of the tournament, then another 16 to progress past 150. Sixes rained down around the ground.  Statistically his 175  is the highest individual score in a final or knockout game in Youth ODIs.  His 15 sixers in his knock are  the most by any batter in a Youth ODI innings. He broke his own record of14 sixes against UAE in December. Sooryavanshi has hit ten or more sixes on five occasions in a Youth ODI, while all other batters combined have done it on three instances. 

A couple of days back, India successfully chased 311 in U19 Semis against Afghanistan when a swashbuckling 33-ball 68 from Vaibhav Sooryavanshi set the tone.    

Most fans would remember that Vaibhav Suryavanshi made his IPL debut for Rajasthan Royals on April 19, 2025, against the Lucknow Super Giants at 14 years and 23 days old, becoming the youngest player in IPL history. He started his innings in remarkable fashion by hitting a six off his very first ball off Shardul Thakur  and scored a quick 34 off 20 balls.  Picked up for ₹1.1 crore, he was the first player born after the IPL's inception (2008) to play in the league.

Hope he matures and plays for the Nation accomplishing much bigger things.

 
Regards – S Sampathkumar
6.2.2026