Cricket takes backseat to chicken for IPL's youngest Vaibhav Suryavanshi

Vaibhav Suryavanshi (Pic: @IPL/Instagram)

If there is one thing that competes for Vaibhav Suryavanshi's attention every bit as fiercely as the cricket ball does, it is food - especially chicken. "If you give him chicken to eat, you will eventually have to take his hands away, because he will never stop eating," chuckled his amused father, Sanjiv.

For the left-handed batter and spinner from Bihar, the simplest joys of life - like devouring a plate of food - hold equal importance to the game that has just propelled him to IPL stardom, at faraway Jeddah.

Despite hailing from one of India's poorest states, Vaibhav's talent has been nurtured since he was five. Without the luxury of fancy academies or professional coaches, the 13-year-old's path to greatness is a testament to the unwavering dedication of one man, his farmer father Sanjiv.

Sanjiv's years of toil, most likely spent in the hopes of achieving something monumental for his family of five, finally paid off when, on Monday, his youngest son laughed his way to the bank as Rajasthan Royals snapped him up for Rs 1.10 crore, three times higher than his base price. As the mandarins of the game sit up and take notice, his lower-middle-class family and his small-town roots are practically bursting with excitement.

When we caught up with Sanjiv on Monday evening, he apologised for the delay in taking our call. "Maaf kijiyega (Sorry)," he sheepishly admitted when we finally connected, his phone ringing off the hook from well-wishers.

"I had a small business to run when he was a child, but I had to quit because he needed me to be there during his practice and tournaments. As you know, cricket is an expensive sport, and we didn't have much money to cover those expenses. So, I was forced to sell my land so he could continue playing. There was no regular income, and I had no other choice. He started training at the age of five, but I had been training him at home for two years before that. Then I made him ready and took him to Samastipur, and later Patna. Three times a week, it would be Samastipur, and the other three days it would be Patna. I have been like a shadow to him all these years."

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Vaibhav's rise to fame, however, wasn't some overnight miracle. Having made his domestic debut at just 12 years old in the Ranji Trophy, which came earlier this year against Mumbai, he became a household name when, as a teenager, he struck a blistering century in just 58 balls against Australia's Under-19 team.

He has continued to impress, most recently being named to India's Under-19 squad for the upcoming ACC Under-19 Asia Cup. If that wasn't enough, he has also played five matches for Bihar in the Ranji Trophy, and more recently made his T20 debut for them in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

But as Vaibhav basks in the well-deserved spotlight, not all the attention has been favourable. Alongside the applause, a cloud of rumours has been swirling around his age, with some suggesting that the prodigious talent might not be 13, as officially claimed, but possibly as old as 15.

"In 2020, he was only nine years old. I remember taking him to the U-16 trials, and a mandatory bone test was conducted for all players. His bone test was also done there. You can check with the BCCI and ask what age came up in that test. He looked very young until last year, but after he started playing state-level matches, his diet improved, and he began to put on weight and height. If you look at his picture from last year, he'll look very young. These changes happened only in the past year," clarified Sanjiv.

Despite the noise, he remains focused on the bigger picture: "I can tell you that I will ensure he gets called up to the India team within the next two years."

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Now that Vaibhav has landed an IPL contract, things will surely be different. The family, once concerned with scraping together enough money for basic training, is now poised for a dramatic shift in lifestyle. With his IPL debut on the horizon, it seems like the next few years could see Vaibhav living his dream, both on and off the field.

For someone of Vaibhav's age, grasping the concept of a crore can be a bit of a stretch. When asked how exactly he plans to shield his young prodigy from the seductive allure of money talk, Sanjiv said: "Baccha cricket ke alawa aur kuch nahi karta. Agar TV mein koi match chal raha ho, toh wohi dekh leta hai, baaki aur kuch nahi. Film dekhna, mobile chalana, kuch nahi. (He does nothing other than cricket. If there is a match on TV, that's all he watches; he doesn't do anything else. No watching movies, no using the phone, nothing)."

"I have taken some loans in the past, and I first need to pay them off. The remaining money will be spent on him. I plan to create an at-home net, but that could attract a lot of people, so I want to set it up at a less-known location. Everything will fall in place," he signed off.