Kieron Pollard Warns All About "Biggest Fear" For Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, 15, has continued on his path to becoming the next big superstar of Indian cricket. In IPL 2026, the Rajasthan Royals opener has slammed two half-centuries in 15 balls. His scores so far read 52, 31, 39 and 78. He has been nonchalant against bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and other top names. Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard cautioned against a lack of support for the 15-year-old when bowlers eventually begin to figure him out.

"At 15, I was still at school playing club cricket and not even sure of having a career. But it's very exciting to see a young guy taking the world by storm," Pollard said when asked about the RR batter.

"One of the things I always say is let's not jump off the bandwagon if he has a couple of failures and bowlers sort of figure him out, and then we simply trim him by the wayside and forget all about it. I think that's the biggest fear for me as a cricketer - that we all run with the hype and then, when something happens..."

In four matches, Sooryavanshi has scored 200 runs at an average of 50.00 and a strike rate of 266.66, with two fifties and a best score of 78. His most recent knock was a blistering 78 off 26 balls, which included eight fours and seven sixes.

Speaking on Star Sports Cricket Live, former India wicketkeeper Saba Karim termed Vaibhav's knock against Royal Challengers Bengaluru an "astounding display".

"It feels like the era of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has just begun, and it's a pleasure to watch him bat. There is an abundance of talent, combined with confident stroke play and a mature approach. He looked equally comfortable against pace and quality spin, with shots all around the wicket. It also seemed like he was building towards a hundred after his aggressive start in the Powerplay. He began rotating the strike and looking for singles. Unfortunately, it didn't materialise, but it reflects a very sound mindset," Karim said.

Featured Video Of The Day

Click here to read article