The comparisons have already started with teen sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi being likened to legendary batter Brian Lara, but Dinesh karthik, the current batting coach and mentor of Royal Challengers Bengaluru thinks Sooryavanshi has a certain trait in his batting that the great West Indian lacked.
Speaking on Cricbuzz, the former India wicketkeeper said that the fearless batting of the 15-year-old is relatable to Virender Sehwag. Sooryavanshi has taken IPL 2026 by storm and is one of the leading run-scorers by amassing 400 runs in nine matches at a strike-rate of 238.10.
“Brian Lara would have been pleased had he had Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s power-hitting. He was a genius, but his backlift was slightly different. His was high as well, but when Sooryavanshi brings the bat down, he generates a lot of power. His head is also so still. Most of his shots are not free-flowing or flourishing. He just packs a punch,” said Karthik.
Karthik also pointed out that Sooryavanshi hardly cares about the reputation of the bowlers, and moreover looks like he has that extra motivation to dominate the best bowlers in the world. A trait that Sehwag had during his playing days.
“The most important thing is that he’s young. Hand-eye coordination is amazing. In terms of fearlessness, he is a lot like Viru (Sehwag). He was the same. The bigger the bowler, the more Sehwag wanted to hit him into space. This kid is not telling us, but from inside he must go like Hazlewood, Bumrah, Sunil Narine, I will smash them all,” he added.
Sooryavanshi has been one of the most consistent performers this season. His scores this season are 52, 31, 39, 78, 0, 46, 8, 103 and 43. Moreover, he also became the first player to cross the 400-run mark this season and already has one century and two fifties to his name.
On Tuesday, he played a fluent knock of 43 runs off just 16 balls as Rajasthan Royals easily chased down Punjab Kings’ target of 223.
