Vaibhav Sooryavanshi warmed up for the upcoming U19 World Cup 2026 campaign by scoring a Player of the Match-worthy 50-ball 96 against Scotland in the first warm-up game played at the Bulawayo Athletic Club on Saturday.
The teenager’s knock, which featured nine boundaries and seven maximums, helped the Indian Under-19 team get off to a flying start after being asked to bat first and post a mammoth total of 374/8 on the board in 50 overs.
Scotland could manage only a meagre 112/9 in 23.2 overs while chasing a revised target of 234 in the rain-curtailed match. Sooryavanshi was adjudged the Player of the Match for his fiery knock, which saw him score at a strike rate of 192.00.
He brought up his half-century in 27 deliveries with a six off Jake Woodhouse. Sooryavanshi perished just four short of a well-deserved ton after being caught behind off Manu Saraswat in the 17th over.
When he departed, India were cruising along at 148/2. Aaron George, Vihaan Malhotra and Abhigyan Kundu scored half-centuries to supplement Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s knock.
The 14-year-old Sooryavanshi, retained by Rajasthan Royals for the 2026 IPL season, has carried forward his form from an incredible breakthrough 2025 season into 2026.
Earlier this month, he led the India U19 team to a 3-0 series win over South Africa in an away Youth ODI series in Benoni. In his maiden outing as the junior national team captain, the Royals opener led by example and was the top scorer in the bilateral series with 206 runs in three innings.
The run included a half-century in the second match and a century in the final game of the series.
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Sooryavanshi finished 2025 as India’s leading run-scorer in Youth ODIs. He amassed 690 runs at an average of 57.50 and a strike rate of 160.09, striking two centuries and two half-centuries, while topping the global six-hitting charts with 55 maximums.
Already vice-captain of Bihar in senior domestic cricket across formats, Sooryavanshi enjoyed a record-breaking IPL debut campaign with Rajasthan Royals last year, becoming the youngest player and centurion in the tournament’s history.
He also recorded two of the three fastest centuries in Youth ODI cricket by smashing a 52-ball ton against the England U19 team in July last year and a 56-ball century against the UAE U19 team in December.
Sooryavanshi is also part of India’s 15-member squad for the ICC U19 World Cup, scheduled to be held in Zimbabwe and Namibia from January 15. He will be playing under the captaincy of Ayush Mhatre in the tournament.
The Scotland match was India’s first warm-up game leading up to the showpiece. They will face England in the second warm-up game on Monday before starting their campaign against the USA on Thursday.
