Indian prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, 15, smashes record with 11-ball half-century

Indian’s 15-year-old prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi demolished yet another record as he struck an 11-ball half-century for India’s A team against Sri Lanka A.

Sooryavanshi hit five fours and five sixes, and played out just one dot ball, in posting his 50. He went on to score 94 off just 29 balls in Dambulla as India posted a total of 377-9, ultimately winning the match by 66 runs.

His innings was the fastest 50 ever scored in a List A 50-over match, beating Kaushalya Weeraratne’s 12-ball effort while playing for Ragama Cricket Club in 2005. It was five balls quicker than the fastest half-century scored in internationals, a record held jointly by South Africa’s AB de Villiers and Matthew Forde, of the West Indies.

Sooryavanshi’s extraordinary performance will only fuel the hype around him as he prepares to go on his first tour with India’s senior squad.

He was named in the party that will play two Twenty20 internationals against Ireland and five against England between June 26 and July 11, having been the leading run scorer in this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL), playing for Rajasthan Royals. He scored 776 runs over the course of the tournament, at a strike rate of 237.30.

However, Sooryavanshi was not named in India’s squad named today for the three 50-over matches against England, starting on July 14.

This was just the latest record to tumble to the batter many pundits are predicting will be India’s greatest since Sachin Tendulkar, the all-time leading Test runscorer.

Sooryavanshi, who earned an IPL deal when he was just 13, became the youngest player to score a hundred in a men’s T20 match when he made 101 off 38 balls at the age of 14 — the second fastest hundred in IPL history. In the 2026 IPL, he broke Chris Gayle’s record for most sixes in a season, hitting 72 in 16 matches.

In February, his 175 off 80 balls in the final of the Under-19 World Cup against England was the highest score recorded in men’s or women’s ICC tournament final history.

“He is something truly special,” Tendulkar told cricinfo.com last month. “And not just the ability to hit the ball, but what also fascinated me was the wrist work that he has.

“To be able to play in all directions of the ground, you need good wrist work. And he is not slogging the ball. He is just picking the line and length earlier than the rest of the guys and he is able to clear the rope comfortably.”