Vaibhav Sooryavanshi ignored Virat’s advice. Virat spent years ignoring them
Two weeks ago in Ahmedabad, Virat Kohli put his arm around Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and said something the 15-year-old will have to remember for the rest of his career.
“Don’t pay attention to who says what or how they say it.” Sooryavanshi later said that the moment felt like a dream, that he didn’t even feel like it was actually Virat Kohli. That the man spoke to him like an older brother. He stored the words carefully, just as you store something precious.
He forgot them on Monday.
In Dambulla, after the Super Over that India A lost to Sri Lanka A in circumstances that were already mired in controversy, Sooryavanshi turned back. He left, gloves tapped Suryansh Shedge, head bowed, done. Then the Sri Lanka A player – Vishen Halambage, clapping, talking – said something. And the 15-year-old, who had just faced Jasprit Bumrah in front of 50,000 people, decided he wasn’t done yet. He nudged Halambage with his left hand before Niroshan Dickwella stepped in to separate them.
It took seconds. It will be debated for days.
WHAT HAPPENED IN DAMBULLE
The match itself was a powder keg. India A and Sri Lanka A were tied at 265 apiece, the no-ball controversy drawing both sets of players back onto the field after they had started to walk off. Tilak Varma spent considerable time in the judges’ faces before the Super Over was eventually played. By the time Mathulan’s yorker ended India A’s chase, the nerves were already frayed.
Sooryavanshi scored five runs off two balls in the Super Over. it wasn’t enough and not for lack of trying. While the hosts celebrated, he and Shedge made the long journey back. What followed was short but nasty: words from Halambaga, a reply from Sooryavanshi, a nudge and then cooler heads, Dickwella, Sri Lanka Captain Sahan Arachchige tearing everyone apart. The exciting competition had a sour end.
NOT FOR THE FIRST TIME
This is actually a familiar scenario, at least on the field, in the heat of competition. In December 2025, during India’s chase of 348 in the U-19 Asia Cup final in Dubai, Sooryavanshi hit 26 off 10 balls before being dismissed by Pakistan pacer Ali Raza and celebrated with some sharp words. Sooryavanshi just didn’t go away. He turned, pointed, said his piece. It went viral. People talked about it for days back then too.
Two incidents, separated by months, do not define a character. Off the field, Sooryavanshi has consistently been a picture of kindness – touching Sunil Gavaskar’s feet during IPL 2026, getting Kohli to sign his Rajasthan Royals cap and wearing it to matches whenever he wasn’t wearing an orange cap. The boy who pushed Halambage on Monday is no different than the one who bowed before Gavaskar. He’s the same person, at 15 he’s still learning what version of himself to be at what moment.
What these two incidents suggest is something more concrete and understandable: when Sooryavanshi is in the arena and the needle hits, he responds. In kind, immediately, without much calculation. That’s different than being an angry young man.
SHOULD WE JUDGE HIM?
It’s worth remembering that Kohli wasn’t always the man to dispense wisdom on the pitch in Ahmedabad. In his early years, he was as likely to be in the middle of the flashpoint as in the crease. He sledged, gesticulated, wore every statement and every trifle on his face. The cricket boards had silent words. The coaches intervened. At the time, aggression seemed like an obstacle.
What changed was not the fire. It never went away. What changed was the direction of the burn.
Over the years and through hard experience, Kohli has learned to pour every last drop of that intensity into his batting and his conditioning, rather than arguing with opposition fielders. Mood turned to hunger. Combustibility has become a relentless refusal to be second best. By the time he told a 15-year-old in Ahmedabad to ignore the noise, he knew exactly how difficult it was to follow that instruction—because he himself had repeatedly failed at it before getting it right.
Federer’s arc is almost identical. The Swiss, who has become synonymous with grace and composure – a man who has been called the most elegant player the sport has ever seen – spent his teenage years breaking rackets and shouting at linesmen. His own trainer, Peter Carter, despaired of his temperament. Federer eventually understood that anger is energy and energy can be redirected. The elegant champion was built on an angry child who was slowly learning what to do with himself. Even Roger Federer was a spirited young man (Reuters)
Sooryavanshi is not such an angry child. But he is a fiercely competitive person who has allowed himself to be provoked on two occasions. This is a narrower charge and much more forgivable.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
At 15, while most of his peers are dreading board trials, Sooryavanshi is facing Bumrah and Archer and Cummins in packed stadiums. He has already done things most cricketers never do: fastest IPL century by an Indian, Orange Cap, 776 runs at 237. Lives incredibly fast.
The incidents in Dubai and Dambulla are not cause for alarm. They are, if anything, evidence that the engine is hot, which is exactly where you want it in a batter of its kind. The challenge now is what it was for Kohli, what it was for Federer: not to cool the engine, but to learn to drive.
He already has the best possible advice. He heard it two weeks ago in Ahmedabad from someone who once needed it himself.
The paddocks are already here. The rest will follow.
– The end
Issued by:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
16 Jun 2026 09:11 IST