Former India coach Ravi Shastri has praised young batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and said the teenager reminded him of a young Sachin Tendulkar. Shastri also revealed that Matthew Hayden was left stunned in the commentary box as he refused to believe that the batter was just 14 years old.“I was amazed; I was on the air in that match in Jaipur. I went on the air in the 4th over and did two stints in a row because we were one commentator short at the time. In the 9th, 10th over, he got to his 100 and hit it. He was hitting back to Mohammed Sharmaraj on 10. Ishdosh. (Matthew Hayden) was there and he said, ‘Oh, he can’t be 14,’ and I said, ‘Come on, take it easy,'” Shastri said on LiSTNR Sport’s Willow Talk podcast.
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Praising the youngster’s talent, Shastri said that Vaibhav’s biggest challenge begins now.“Now is the most difficult time for him. Because he made such an impression at such a young age, similar to Sachin. Now, in the next two or three years, he needs someone to guide him. You can go off the rails very quickly. You can go to your head, the expectations are high, you might not make it,” explained Shastri.“This is where someone has to go and tell him that at some point you have to fail. It’s a level, this game. So don’t get mad. It’s a part of life. You stick to what you’re doing. Once you start accepting failure, start taking it in stride, then you get the right balance. This is an important time for him.”
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Shastri also advised the young prodigy to play red-ball cricket to fine-tune his technique and temperament.“How good was Sachin or Kohli at that age? If the guy is that good at that age, there’s no reason why he can’t be asked to play four-day games. It’ll do him good to play the ball. It’ll help him tighten up his technique. Then he’ll get a balance of which bowlers to bat and which bowlers to target… the targeting isn’t the problem – it’s already there. It’s that he has to respect the conditions.”
