After turning heads in the IPL, 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi has lit up the U19 ODI series against England U19. Here are five other Indian batting stars who proved too good for the Under-19 level.
Suryavanshi first made headlines in 2024 when he made his Ranji Trophy debut for Bihar aged 12. His love affair with headlines has continued ever since, as he became the youngest to grab an IPL contract, smashed a 58-ball hundred in a Youth Test against Australia U19, hit his first ball in the IPL for a six, become the youngest T20 centurion and so on.
Currently playing for India U19 in an ODI series against England, he has recorded scores of 48 off 19, 45 off 34, 86 off 31, and 143 off 78 in four matches - the last of which broke the record for the fastest Youth ODI hundred ever recorded.
Before Suryavanshi, there have been several Indian batting prodigies who have bullied their way through the Under-19 level before being fast-tracked to the national setup. Here are five of them.
The numbers below the names are the Youth ODI stats of those players.
Shikhar Dhawan
7 mat | 505 runs | 84.16 avg | 3 hundreds | 1 fifty
Dhawan only played seven U19 ODIs, all of which came in the 2004 U19 World Cup. He was, by far, the highest scorer in the tournament, with the next best, a certain Alastair Cook from England, making 122 runs fewer than Dhawan. He started the tournament with an unbeaten 155 against Scotland, made 120 against Bangladesh, and 146 against Sri Lanka.
It took a while for him to graduate to the next level and make his senior India debut, which came in an ODI series against Australia in 2010, and a few more years to establish himself as a regular. But once he did, Dhawan became the first-choice opener in all three formats for several years before announcing his retirement last year.
Cheteshwar Pujara
14 mat | 614 runs | 76.76 avg | 1 hundred | 5 fifties
Before becoming a stalwart at No.3 for the Indian Test side, Pujara came through the ranks as a heavy scorer in age group cricket. He made his India U19 debut in the 2005 Afro-Asia U19 Cup, scoring three unbeaten half-centuries from six games. That was followed by an Under-19 World Cup campaign in Sri Lanka in 2006 where he made 349 runs at 116.33, including an unbeaten 129 against England U19 in the semi-final. Pujara unfortunately didn't open his account in the final which India lost against Pakistan, and only played two more Youth ODIs after that.
Like Dhawan, it took Pujara a few years to break into the national side, making his Test debut in 2010. While he hasn't officially announced his retirement yet, it seems unlikely that Pujara will add to his 103 Tests or 7,195 runs.
Virat Kohli
28 mat | 978 runs | 46.57 avg | 1 hundred | 6 fifties
The journey of the poster-boy of Indian cricket had begun right from his Under-19 days when he led India to their second World Cup title in 2008. Kohli made his India U19 debut in 2006, scoring 64 not out in a match against England U19. That was followed by consistent performances over the next two years: 80 (92) against Pakistan in Lahore, 66 (50) against New Zealand in Lincoln, 80 (68) against Sri Lanka in Kuala Lumpur and so on. His only hundred at this level came at the 2008 U19 World Cup, a superlative 100 off just 74 balls against West Indies.
Kohli was handed a senior India debut five months after leading the Under-19 side to victory. He retired from Test cricket two months back as India's most successful captain in the format.
Shubman Gill
16 mat | 1,149 runs | 104.45 avg | 4 hundreds | 6 fifties
The current India Test captain has a scarcely believable record at the Under-19 level. He's the only batter to average over 100 across more than 10 Youth ODI innings. Gill didn't cross 50 only five out of the 15 times he batted, with his lowest score being 24. He scored four hundreds - three against England and one in the 2018 World Cup semi-final against Pakistan.
Always touted as the next big thing from his age-group days, Gill donned the senior India blues for the first time in January 2019 during an ODI series in New Zealand. Six years later, he is leading the Test team and recently became the first Indian to make more than 400 runs in a Test match.
Yashasvi Jaiswal
27 mat | 1,386 runs | 69.30 avg | 3 hundreds | 12 fifties
Jaiswal is the sixth-highest run-scorer in Youth ODIs. Unlike the others on this list, Jaiswal was also a regular bowler at the Under-19 level, having taken 12 wickets at an average of 15.83 with his handy leg-spin. He made his India U19 debut at 16, scoring a hundred in just his third match, against Sri Lanka. After struggling in the quadrangular series (97 runs at 24.25) right before the 2020 U19 World Cup, Jaiswal made amends and lived up to his reputation at the main event, scoring 400 runs at 133.33 including one hundred and four fifties.
Like Gill, Jaiswal's World Cup hundred came against Pakistan in the semi-final. He also made 88 off 121 balls in the final against Bangladesh, playing a lone hand as India were bowled out for 177 and lost the match.
The young prodigy was fast-tracked into the IPL setup, earning a debut in 2020 for Rajasthan Royals but looked out of sorts, before coming back as a significantly improved player next season. In 2023, he scored 171 on Test debut and recently became the joint-fastest Indian to 2,000 runs in the format.
Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.
