New Delhi, June 6 (IANS) On a fine Saturday afternoon, Manish Ojha was doing what he has done for a long time – making his students go through their paces at his Gen Next Academy in the Sampatchak area of Patna.

Amidst the focus on the trainees perfecting their craft in the afternoon training session, Ojha got a call from Sanjeev Sooryavanshi. The message was short, but electric: his son Vaibhav Sooryavanshi got his India senior men’s T20I call-up to tours of Ireland, England, and the Asian Games event in Japan.

Hearing that, Ojha was left really delighted and congratulated Sanjeev. “It was expected that, the way Vaibhav was performing well in the T20 format, he would get the call-up. He performed well in the U-19 World Cup win and then showed his explosive strokeplay in the IPL.

“So, it was quite obvious and expected for me that he would be given a chance. But when he would be given a chance, I had no idea. Now that it has come, it’s a great moment. After I congratulated his father, he, in return, congratulated me,” Ojha recalled in an exclusive conversation with IANS on Saturday.

The mutual congratulations felt earned because what Sooryavanshi has done at 15 years of age isn’t merely precocious – it is historic. In the words of chief selector Ajit Agarkar, Sooryavanshi had ‘almost forced his way into the T20I squad. It’s not hard to see why. In the 2026 IPL, Sooryavanshi made a staggering 776 runs at a strike rate of 237.30, and single-handedly dragged Rajasthan Royals to Qualifier 2.

He hit 72 sixes – breaking Chris Gayle’s record for the most maximums in a single season. He became the first player in IPL history to be named both the Most Valuable Player and the Best Emerging Player. Before any of that, Sooryavanshi wowed the world by walking out and making a whirlwind 175 from 80 balls – 15 fours, 15 sixes, the highest ever individual score in an ICC World Cup final – as India posted 411/9.

He finished the tournament with 439 runs at a competition-best strike rate of 169.49, a World Cup-record 30 sixes, and the Player of the Final as well as Player of the Tournament awards in his pocket. Before those senior assignments, he will line up for India A in the 50-over tri-series in Sri Lanka from June 9-21.

He is, by some distance, the youngest player selected in an Indian men’s squad since a teenage Sachin Tendulkar announced himself to the world in 1989. Back in Patna, Ojha doesn’t need match footage or highlight reels to remember how the Sooryavanshi journey began – the memories in his mind are sharper than anything.

“I often talk to Sanjeev ji about the journey from the start to the present. All of those memories are still vivid in my mind – the first time I met him, the first practice session he did under me, him coming to the academy and going back home – all these memories appear in front of my eyes now.

“Not just in Bihar, there are thousands of cricket coaches in India. But it was God’s will that Vaibhav’s father came to me with him at my academy. It was God’s grace that he made me capable enough to put in a lot of hard work on Vaibhav and invest heavily in him. It is all due to God’s blessings that Vaibhav has reached a very high level and made me very proud. Without God’s grace, all these things don’t happen in life.”

What strikes Ojha most isn’t just the talent – it’s the trajectory of Sooryavanshi’s improvement in 2026. The improvement has been visible, quantifiable, and almost startling in its consistency. “His level of maturity is improving at every level. His execution capacity in terms of stroke play is improving. There are a lot of differences between playing at a local, state, and international level.

“But Vaibhav has maintained the intent of their game on all three platforms. In fact, I would say that you can clearly see the improvement in their strength. All the experts who have seen him play can easily point out the difference between how he batted in the first IPL and the second IPL.

“When he played the initial matches of U-19, after he reached there for the first time and from then to the difference in his game in the World Cup, there has been a lot of difference in terms of maturity, shot selection, and execution. Day by day, Vaibhav is growing as a player. He is improving his skill sets and executing them better. You can see his performance – it has improved by three times since the last IPL.”

Yet, for all the records and the fanfare and the historic comparisons to Tendulkar, Ojha is careful not to let the moment be mistaken for the destination. “I would say that this is the first step in the ladder for Vaibhav after earning selection into the T20I team, as he has to serve Team India for a long time.

“In his hands, he has the age factor – his skill is top class, his mental capacity, and confidence level, everything is at the top. I expect that in the near future, he will become a part of Team India’s ODI and Test teams and play an important role in the victory of the Indian cricket team for the next 15-20 years.”

Fifteen years old – barely old enough to remember Dhoni lifting the 2011 World Cup, and yet he’s the most enthralling batting talent since Tendulkar captured the world’s attention. He’s already rewriting records and becoming the batting lynchpin in a line-up with more established batters. Sooryavanshi’s ladder to a permanent India berth has only just appeared, and Ojha already knows where it leads to and how long this dizzying climb will last.

–IANS

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