Former South African pacer Dale Steyn has boldly predicted that by the time Vaibhav Sooryavanshi finishes his career, he will have accomplished far more than Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.
After an incredible IPL 2026 run in which he scored 776 runs to earn the Orange Cap, Sooryavanshi was added to the India T20 team to tour England and Ireland.
“Sooryavanshi is a different gravy, man! He’s better than most international players right now. He is a boy wonder, somebody who is a treasure for Indian cricket,” PTI quoted Steyn telling a select media gathering.
But Steyn emphasized how crucial it is to nurture the young talent in order to secure a lengthy career for him.
“You think of guys like Sachin, Virat, and this kid is going to explode. He’s going to be bigger than both of them put together at the end of his career. So, I would caution how you manage him and look after him because with great responsibility, comes great reward.
“But there’s a big threat there that you could lose him at some point if you don’t look after him well enough,” he added.
What, therefore, makes the 15-year-old the most well-known batter in modern cricket?
“He’s a fantastic ball striker. I’ve watched him play in India where the wickets are good. The fields are slightly smaller, just slightly. And with the wickets as good as they are, he’s exploited that really well. He’s a very good player who can do that.”
But according to Steyn, who has 699 international scalps, bowlers can stop Sooryavanshi if they can give the left-hander a little “fear factor.”
“I think (Kagiso) Rabada bowled at him well. You’ve got to test him upstairs and he’s still young, he’s only 14-15, and if you can throw a little bit of fear factor into the game, I mean, cricket is a fear factor game.
“If you go into the game scared, if you’re fearing somebody, not for your life, but even just fear bowling to them or fear facing them, fear can make you do silly things. So, the short ball towards him is probably a good option,” he noted.
In addition, the 42-year-old praised 37-year-old Kohli for keeping up with the influx of young players.
“I think Kohli’s ability to sustain his mental approach to the game, stay fresh, stay wanting to continue to perform says a lot about him. He’s got a lot of self-drive, which is something that I think all of us cricketers had when in my era, and that’s the only thing that we had,” he said.
In T20 cricket, bowlers are increasingly using a variety of strategies to halt the generations of batsmen who have dominated the game. To make them less predictable, Steyn counseled the bowlers to use a variety of delivery techniques sparingly.
“Yeah, it’s a tough one. You look at somebody like Fazalhaq Farooqi from Afghanistan. He’s probably the one bowler that I feel has got more skills than anybody. The key thing for him is when to use them and how to use them and that’s something he has to learn.
“I certainly don’t like training guys to have too many skills because it can often lead to confusion as to which one to bowl right now. But it certainly is a valuable asset to have as many skills as he has. But it’s all about knowing when to bowl it and when not to bowl it,” he said.
