14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi Becomes Youngest Centurion in SMAT with 61-ball 108

Kolkata: Fourteen-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi has created history by becoming the youngest centurion in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, smashing a brilliant 108 off 61 balls against Maharashtra at Eden Gardens on Tuesday.

Representing Bihar, Suryavanshi’s innings included seven fours and seven sixes, making him the youngest player ever to score a century in the tournament. After modest scores of 14, 13, and 5 earlier in the competition, the teenage sensation registered his first fifty of the season in 34 balls before racing to a landmark hundred off 58 deliveries—his slowest T20 century so far.

This knock marks his third century in just 16 professional T20 matches.

Powered by the vice-captain’s superb innings, Bihar posted 176/3. Maharashtra, in response, were 174/7 at the time of filing this report.

Suryavanshi has been rewriting record books throughout the year. Earlier, he became the youngest-ever IPL player at 14 years and 23 days, debuting against the Lucknow Super Giants. Just nine days later, he stunned the cricketing world with a 35-ball hundred against Gujarat Titans—the fastest IPL century by an Indian and second-fastest overall after Chris Gayle.

He also blasted 143 in the fourth match of an U19 series, registering the fastest century in U19 men’s ODI history and becoming the youngest to achieve the feat. Last month, he struck another century in a Youth Test against Australia U19 in Brisbane.

His most recent fireworks came in the Rising Stars Asia Cup, where he hammered 144 off just 42 balls for India A against UAE, smacking 11 fours and 15 sixes. His 32-ball hundred in that match made him the youngest male cricketer to score a century for any senior national representative side, breaking a two-decade-old record.

— With inputs from IANS