'He should be blooded into the senior team immediately, like Sachin was all those years ago.'
Rajasthan Royals Director of High Performance Zubin Bharucha urged the national selectors to fast-track 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi into the India senior team, citing the example of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who made his India debut at 16.
Vaibhav became the youngest ever to hit a century in the IPL earlier this year; his 35-ball hundred is the second fastest century in IPL history.
In July, the young left-hander slammed his first century in an Under-19 one-day international, smashing 143 off 78 balls against England in Worcester. He created another record, hitting a 52-ball century -- the fastest Youth ODI hundred.
Bharucha said Vaibhav is ready to break into the Indian senior team. The Bihar batter showed his credentials Down Under with knocks of 38, 70 and 16 to power India U-19 to a 3-0 series sweep against Australia U-19 in the Youth ODI series in Brisbane and followed it up with a quickfire 113 from 86 balls to power India U-19 to a thumping victory against the Aussies.
'He should be blooded into the senior team immediately, like Sachin was all those years ago,' Bharucha told The Times of India newspaper.
'They have to blood this guy immediately, boss, because he is in another zone only. At least send him on an India A tour. Send him to India A immediately. I'm telling you, this Australian attack that is here, bowling to India A guys, he would have got a double hundred,' he added.
Bharucha, who played for Mumbai and Surrey, helped Yashasvi Jaiswal turn around his game after a few low scores during the Test series in England earlier this year.
Bharucha revealed how Jofra Archer was stunned when he first bowled to Vaibhav in the nets during IPL 2025 as he smashed the England pace spearhead out of the park.
'He smoked Jofra Archer in the nets. Jofra Archer, when he bowls in the nets, he's a demon. He never bowls a warm-up ball when the batter is there. He absolutely charges in.
'And actually, Jofra Archer knocked off Steve Smith's head in a practice session we had before the Ashes. Smith was struggling against him. From that day onwards, he never went inside the net when Jofra was bowling,' Bharucha recalled.
'When he was bowling to Vaibhav, I was scared, and this boy hit one shot on the back foot, and it went out of the stadium. All the coaching staff, even Jofra, were stunned,' he added.
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