Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
New Zealand have done their homework on India’s teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and are preparing specific plans to counter his explosive hitting, with pacer Jacob Duffy hoping home conditions will pose a fresh challenge for the 15-year-old ahead of the five-match T20I series beginning on Thursday. After a quiet start to his international career against England, the left-handed opener announced himself on the global stage by smashing an 18-ball half-century against Zimbabwe, becoming the youngest player to score a fifty in men’s international cricket. “He’s striking at 250 (strike-rate) every game and he’s not missing out very often. The Otago bowler won the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal as New Zealand’s top player in 2025 and was part of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL-winning campaign after reaching the final of the T20 World Cup earlier in the year.
So that’s incredible in itself. “I think he played in England, so conditions will be a little bit different for him, so that’s obviously one thing for him to be challenged with.
We’ve certainly had a good scouting session on him and got our plans as to what we want to do to him,” he said. “He’s from Invercargill, so he’s promised me a little bit of bounce,” said Duffy, who was born in Lumsden, a small town near the South Island city. Sooryavanshi has taken the cricketing world by storm with his fearless approach and remarkable consistency, rewriting records in the Indian Premier League before becoming India’s youngest international cricketer in the men’s game with his T20I debut in England in July. He has continued his rise, recently winning an Asian Games gold medal in Japan. “First of all, he’s an incredible talent. India’s fans will be keen to see how the teenager handles New Zealand’s conditions, where pitches can offer movement and bounce to fast bowlers. The five-match T20I series will provide an important test of his adaptability against an attack familiar with exploiting conditions at home. “As long as it’s not Hyderabad, I’m happy. Duffy arrives at the assignment after a productive period in his career.
Obviously, he’s taken the IPL by storm and what’s amazing, he strikes it so hard but he does it so consistently,” Duffy told reporters on Tuesday.