“His mindset and preparation are different”: Sarfaraz Khan praises Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (Image credit: IPL) MUMBAI: Much before he took the cricket world by storm by crushing the world’s best bowlers with a flurry of sixes while batting for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, Sarfaraz Khan, the run machine of domestic cricket, was stunned by the first sight of Vaibhav Sooryvanshi. It was in January 2024 that the explosive batsman, now 15, made his debut for Bihar against a strong Mumbai team at the age of 12 years and 284 days, becoming India’s youngest first-class debutant in decades in the opening match of the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season.Sooryavanshi was out for 19 and 12, dismissed by Shivam Dube and Tanush Kotian as Bihar went down by an innings and 51 runs, but Sarfaraz liked what he saw of the batsman who surpassed Chris Gayle’s record of 59 sixes in an IPL season in 2026. “He is a very good friend of mine and we keep in touch. He is doing really well. I saw him for the first time in his Ranji Trophy debut against Mumbai. Even then I could see that he has great skills. He can play both red-ball and white-ball cricket very well,” Sarfaraz told reporters at the launch of the Aakash Tigers Mumbai League, Mumbai West Suburbs T200 outfit on Friday. off at Wankhede Stadium from Monday. Apart from Sarfaraz Khan, Aakash Tigers women’s team captain Humaira Kazi and mentors Praveen Amre and Laya Fran Francis were present on the occasion.Sarfaraz felt that it was the “sensory setting” that made Sooryavanshi different from others. “His mindset and preparation is different. Anyone can succeed if they work hard enough. He has worked extremely hard on his game,” said the 28-year-old Mumbaikar.IPL comeback on the back of an excellent performance for Mumbai in the 2025-26 Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy (329 runs in seven matches at a strike rate of 203.08 and an average of 65.80 while batting at No. 3) and then the Vijay Hazare Trophy, I was picked up by Sarfaraz King Chennai in the 26th auction for 75 crores. He scored 161 runs in eight matches@23.00, at a strike of 169.47, with one fifty in the season. The middle-order batsman showcased his vastly improved fitness and fielding skills and also took some brilliant catches. “I enjoy hard work. I don’t like to sit idle. I felt I needed to improve my white-ball game, so I worked on that and also focused on my fitness. The results were positive. You can never be completely satisfied in cricket. The biggest challenge for me was to get back on the scene. I needed to improve my strike rate and fitness. That’s one reason why I was out of the IPL for two years, I was fielding and hitting hard condition. to improve,” claimed Sarfaraz.“For the past three years, I have been trying to keep improving. Every season I work on something new so that the selectors can see the growth in my game. I always focus on upgrading my game every season,” he added.Halfway through the IPL season, Sarfaraz lost his place in the CSK XI to hard-hitting batsman Urvil Patel from Gujarat. “First of all, I feel very lucky to have been a part of CSK. I spent two months there and learned a lot. We sat together, discussed cricket and always tried to learn new things. One thing I learned is to keep things simple,” said Sarfaraz, who will lead Aakash Tigers in Season 4 of the T20 Mumbai League.On Thursday, Mumbai’s veteran middle-order Siddhesh Lad sparked outrage by saying that IPL performances are now being given more weight in India’s selection. Sarfaraz had a different take on the matter. “Whether it’s the IPL or any other tournament, your job is to perform. The selectors will do their job; the players have to focus on theirs,” he felt.With the arrival of monsoon, rain could affect the first half of the T20 Mumbai League. Amre felt the players would adapt to wickets which, as Lad once said, can be a bit damp and not very bat-friendly, but Amre said, “Mumbai cricketers are used to playing in all kinds of conditions and wickets, so I think they will adapt well.