Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hammered 175 off 80 balls to put the Indian cricket team in complete command against England in the U19 World Cup 2026 final at the Harare Sports Club in Zimbabwe on Friday.
Vaibhav’s effort, packed with 15 fours and as many sixes, was his fourth Youth ODI century and also rewrote several markers in the format.
The 14-year-old Sooryavanshi, who represents Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, began cautiously, moving to 10 off 13 after a few plays and misses. However, once Vaibhav settled in, the innings transformed dramatically.
He reached his half-century in 32 balls - continuing his explosive tournament trend after a 24-ball fifty in the semi-final against Afghanistan.
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By the time Sooryavanshi got to his hundred off 55 balls, he had already overtaken Dewald Brevis’ tally of 18 sixes in 2022 to claim the record for the most sixes in an U19 men’s World Cup edition.
His 55-ball milestone also became the second-fastest century in U19 World Cup history, behind the 51-ball effort by Australia's Will Malajczuk earlier in this tournament against Japan.
The boundaries kept flowing for Vaibhav Soryavanshi as India crossed 200 in 21.4 overs. He soon raised 150 off just 71 balls.
Vaibhav’s tally of 15 sixes in the innings set a new benchmark for the most sixes in a Youth ODI innings, eclipsing his own previous record of 14. Remarkably, 150 of his 175 runs came in boundaries.
When he finally fell in the 26th over, India had already surged past the 250 mark. His knock also pushed him past a monumental landmark - becoming the first batter in Youth ODI history to hit 100 sixes.
Sooryavanshi is India’s leading run-scorer at the U19 World Cup, with 439 runs at an average of 62.71 and a strike rate of 169.49. His tally also included half-centuries against Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.
He had also smashed a 50-ball 96 against Scotland in India’s first warm-up game leading up to the tournament.
