When Vaibhav Sooryavanshi attended the Rajasthan Royals trials back in the day, neither did he possess the pronounced back-lift nor the super-sonic bat speed that has now forced an entire bowlers’ industry to suffer from chronic nightmares. But with a gifted cricket brain and clarity to die for, Sooryavanshi often reminds Zubin Bharucha of a young Sachin Tendulkar, who had similar traits when he was 15. Bharucha, possibly one of the best modern day batting mentors in the country, who also worked with Sooryavanshi, gave a ringside view of the science in his batting and the elements that make him special.
“One of Vaibhav’s rare qualities is his ability to grow alongside the game. What people see today is not what existed when he was eight years old. This exaggerated backlift, for example, evolved progressively as the quality and pace of bowling improved around him,” Bharucha told PTI during an interaction.
In fact, Bharucha, who back then was associated with the Royals spoke about how the coaches worked on his bat speed before the start of the 2025 Indian Premier League.
“Interestingly, at the trial he attended, he did not even possess the fastest bat speed amongst the group. This was identified and worked on diligently for a period of three months where we were able to improve it by another thirty percent,” the former Mumbai batter recalled.
So what exactly separates Sooryavanshi from other talented young batters who are coming through the ranks? “That ability to delay commitment, to almost suspend time for a fraction longer, is one of the defining traits of elite batting,” Bharucha replied.
Deconstructing Sooryavanshi’s technique
If one has watched Sooryavanshi, the footwork has been minimal where he has mostly stood and delivered with an amazing bat-speed armed with a high back-lift. But there is a slight trigger of the backfoot which allows him to use the depth of the crease.
“A lot of that comes from his loading onto the backfoot and his back-lift. The back-lift is not merely a stylistic feature; it acts almost like a self-propagating depth-perception mechanism. As the ball travels, the body, hands, and eyes work together to create spatial awareness.
“Great batters do not just react to the ball, they seem to receive extra information from it. That is incredibly difficult to teach because it sits at the intersection of vision, timing, balance, and instinct,” said Bharucha.
While he is much younger compared to team’s senior players like Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel, his training routines haven’t been any different from them.
“Jurel. There is no radically different magic formula.” “The process is built around deconstruction and reconstruction — breaking the batting down into smaller components, identifying inefficiencies, and then rebuilding movements and decisions in a more repeatable way. The core objective is always risk reduction through fault reduction, while simultaneously enhancing scoring options.” What one has noticed in Sooryavanshi’s batting is the increase in scoring options. In 2025, his scoring chart was dominated by shots on the on-side but in this one year, he has developed shots on the off as well.
“At the highest level, batting development is as much about adding range as it is about removing weaknesses and increasing clarity under pressure.
“What is interesting is that his practice routines between IPL seasons have not dramatically changed. He has been hitting roughly the same volume of balls for the last couple of years.
“With elite sport, people often search for some secret technical breakthrough, but more often than not the biggest shift is belief,” Bharucha said, relating from his decades of coaching young talent, who come up through the system.
So what has been the difference between Sooryavanshi of 2025 and Sooryavanshi of 2026? “The difference now is that his confidence has multiplied,” Bharucha answered.
“Earlier, he knew he could dominate U19 bowlers. Now he believes the same methods, the same tempo, and the same instincts can work against international bowlers as well. That internal shift is enormous. Talent gives players a ceiling, but belief is often what allows them to actually reach it.” Sooryavanshi is enjoying a high but obviously there will be low phases like it happens with every player. The noise around him will increase exponentially but Bharucha feels that after Tendulkar, he hasn’t seen any teenager with such clarity.
“In that sense, he reminds me very much of a young Sachin Tendulkar. Not necessarily stylistically, but in terms of maturity and clarity. Some players arrive young in age but already old in understanding. He is one such,” said Bharucha.
“It would be unrealistic to suggest that he will somehow be immune to the struggles every cricketer experiences. Failure, scrutiny, and the weight of expectation are unavoidable parts of any sporting career, particularly in India but what stands out, though, are some of the qualities he possesses beyond pure skill.
“His leadership instincts and his cricket intelligence are unusually advanced for someone so young. He processes situations quickly and has a natural awareness of the game around him.” While there are people skeptical about how he will fare in red ball cricket, Bharucha won’t mind if selectors throw him towards the deep end of the pool.
“So if the belief is that he has the capability, then there is also an argument that throwing him into the deep end may actually accelerate his learning. Great players often adapt quicker against the highest standard because their learning curve sharpens under pressure.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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