‘Bhole ka haath hai’: Back in Tajpur, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi remains the kid who never forgives or forgets.

Ravi Prakash Jha with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in Tajpur, Samastipur ahead of the U19 World Cup. (Special arrangement) TimesofIndia.com in Mullanpur: For the cricketing world, what unfolded in Mullanpur during the IPL 2026 Eliminator between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad was magical. The 15-year-old twice dismantled the attack led by Pat Cummins without blinking an eye.But 1,300 kilometers away in Tajpur, a small village 12 km from Bihar’s Samastipur district, no one was surprised. And Ravi Prakash Jha, who has been bowling with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi since he was five, was one of the many. The villagers packed into Sooryavanshi’s house and watched the prodigy do what had seen him for years: smash bowlers twice his age into submission.When Sooryavanshi fell short of a century, disappointment reigned for barely a moment before the room collectively shrugged it off and said, “Koi baat nahi, agle match mein aa jayega” (It’s okay, he’ll get it in the next match).Once Sooryavanshi’s tornado-like innings came to an end after a 29-ball 97 blitz, there was hardly a single person in the stadium who wasn’t stunned. He smoked eight sixes in the first 16 balls he faced. Even in book cricket, one can hardly imagine hitting a six every two balls.“Ye book cricket 8 saal ki umar se khel raha hai (He has been playing this book cricket since he was eight),” Jha said with a laugh.

Rajasthan Royals’ Vaibhav Sooryavanshi returns after scoring a 29-ball 97 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2026 Eliminator. (PTI)

Jha, now 22, has been bowling with Sooryavanshi since he was 5 and he is 12. He shared several anecdotes from the early days of long hours spent in the sun.“Very few people know that he was selected for Bihar’s U-19 team when he was eight. He was not selected because of his age.”“In one of the U-12 matches at the Moinul Haq Stadium in Patna, he scored 153 runs. Of the 15 sixes he hit, seven balls could not even be tracked as they landed outside the ground,” he says.Jha continues: “Three weeks before he was likely to be selected as a 12-year-old in Bihar’s Ranji Trophy in 2022, there were allegations about his age. The BCCI called him to Bengaluru where he had to undergo a bone test. (VVS) Mr Laxman wanted to squash the speculation, he is only 15 years old, he is gone once and for all. not even a 30-year-old.”

Everything is a game of temperament and Vaibhav has the upper hand.

Ravi Prakash Jha

“Sab temperament ka khel hai, aur Vaibhav par Bhole ka haath hai (cricket is a game of temperament and has the blessings of Lord Shiva),” he says.R Ashwin spoke in detail on his YouTube channel about how Sooryavanshi worked on his game during the tournament itself. Be it Mohsin Khan, Prafull Hinge or Mohammed Siraj, they all troubled him with sharp short balls aimed at the body. Mohsin even threw a girl at him. Hinge dismissed him for a golden duck while Siraj repeatedly bowled him from the same length.However, what stood out is how quickly Sooryavanshi made minor adjustments. Within weeks, he worked on his game and began to confidently play the uppercut against the bouncer. Pat Cummins’ second six in his second over was a perfect example.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi of Rajasthan Royals plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. (AP)

“If you remember his top cut over third man for a six, earlier in the season he was trying to play the same ball straight and was getting top edges. He made such changes during the season when he was just 15. He is not a normal player,” Ashwin said.Prafull Hinge dismissed Sooryavanshi twice in three matches. But in the opposite match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals, Sooryavanshi smashed four consecutive sixes off Hinge. He had already plundered 28 runs in an over with three sixes and two boundaries in the Eliminator before falling to Hinge.One day I dismissed him twice and then he beat me so hard I couldn’t believe it. He hit a pull shot with such force that it tore the practice net,” Jha recalled.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Mohammed Siraj (Image credit: BCCI/IPL)

On Friday, the battle between Siraj and Sooryavanshi will once again be one of the most fascinating contests to watch. In their previous meeting before they finally got out, the teenager had already hit Siraj for three magnificent boundaries.Now they face each other again. Siraj comes armed with pace, hostility and plans. Sooryavanshi walks in with fearless intent and a bat that seems unable to stay still for too long at the moment. And somewhere in Tajpur, they will calmly watch, because this is nothing new for them.