13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi becomes youngest player ever chosen at IPL auction
By Ben Morse, CNN
(CNN) — A 13-year-old Indian cricketer made history on Monday as he became the youngest player ever to have his rights purchased at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction.
The rights to Vaibhav Suryavanshi were bought for 11 million Indian rupees (around $130,000) to the Rajasthan Royals after a bidding spree between the Royals and the Delhi Capitals forced his price up.
The IPL’s auction sees the league’s 10 teams compete via a bidding process to acquire players to fill out their rosters.
“He just came to our trials and we were really happy with what we saw,” Royals head coach and former India international Rahul Dravid said after Monday’s auction, which was held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. “I think he’s got some really good skills, so we thought it might be a good environment for him to grow in.”
A 12-year-old Suryavanshi made his debut in domestic Indian cricket’s longer format, the Ranji Trophy, in January this year for his home state of Bihar against Mumbai.
He also scored a triple-century in a local tournament for Bihar and hit a 58-ball hundred for India’s under-19 team against Australia in September.
“He’s been to our high-performance center in Nagpur, he had trials there and really impressed on the ground,” Royals CEO Jake Lush McCrum said after the auction, per Reuters.
“Incredible talent and, of course, you’ve got to have the confidence so he can step up to the IPL level. Lots of work will go in over the coming months to continue to develop him, but a hell of a talent. We’re really excited to have him as part of the franchise.”
Elsewhere, Indian stars Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer both earned record-breaking fees.
The Punjab Kings first won a bidding war to acquire batter Iyer for 267.5 million Indian rupees ($3.17 million) before Lucknow Super Giants secured Pant for 270 million Indian rupees ($3.20 million).
The IPL is the world’s premium short-format cricketing league. Over 500 million people tuned in to watch the 2023 edition of the tournament, while its media rights were sold for $6.2 billion for the 2023 to 2027 seasons, per the Financial Times.
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