IPL 2025 Mega Auction: Rajasthan Royals sign Vaibhav Suryavanshi, youngest IPL player ever

Vaibhav Suryavanshi, a left-hand top-order batter from Bihar, became the youngest player to sign an IPL contract. He was acquired by the Rajasthan Royals (RR) for INR 1.10 crore (roughly US$0.13 million).

Suryavanshi, who was 13 years and 243 days old on the day he signed his first IPL contract, has already represented India Under-19 and scored a century opening the batting against Australia Under-19 in a four-day game in Chennai less than two months ago.

Bids for Suryavanshi started at his base price of INR 30 lakh and RR and Delhi Capitals (DC) were soon involved in the bidding battle, which eventually went RR's way.

"He's been to our high performance center in Nagpur, he had trials there and really impressed our coaching set-up there," RR CEO Jake Lush McCrum said after the auction ended. "He's an incredible talent and of course you got to have the confidence so he can step up to the IPL level. So lots of work will go in in the coming months to continue to develop him but hell of a talent and we're really excited to have him as part of the franchise."

Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s Cricketing Journey so far

Originating from Samastipur, a city approximately 100 kilometers northeast of Patna, Suryavanshi has participated in five Ranji Trophy matches since making his first-class debut against Mumbai earlier this year. He is currently representing Bihar in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20s. He recently made his T20 debut against Rajasthan, on November 23.

His century off just 58 balls against Australia U-19, which came before he was dismissed for 104, is the high point of his career thus far. With that knock, Suryavanshi became the youngest player in youth cricket history to score a century at the age of 13 years and 187 days, surpassing the previous record of 14 years and 241 days, which was held by Najmul Hossain Shanto, the current captain of Bangladesh.

Furthermore, Suryavanshi has a triple-century—an undefeated 332—in the Randhir Verma Tournament, a U-19 competition held in Bihar. He idolises Brian Lara and consults former India opener Wasim Jaffer about his game from time to time - they had first met during an U-19 white-ball tournament in Bangladesh in November 2023.

However, his father, Sanjeev Suryavanshi, is his official coach. Sanjeev was also a cricket player, but he turned to coaching after failing to advance to the higher levels. He started working with Vaibhav after the latter expressed a desire to take the game seriously.

Cover Credits - Rajasthan Royals