The Sooryavanshi spell

Many insist that Sachin Tendulkar had that gift. But what do they know of a teenage wonder who never saw the rise of the boy prodigy? Those who lived too far from the maidans of Mumbai or those who had no access to the grainy or high-quality visuals being beamed from Pakistan, England and Australia? Or those who were not born or too young to understand all that was unfolding in the late 1980s and early 1990s? Lived memory is not the same as inheriting folklore.

Around 11.15 PM on Friday, a father stepping out of the VVIP box at the Guwahati stadium was insisting to his son that their day at cricket was over, and they needed to head back home. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi had departed, and the rest of the contest - 73 runs needed off 71 balls with eight wickets in hand - had become a mere formality. Early bedtime, Saturday morning school or something else - whatever be the excuse, the glue had come off the father's seat, even if nearly 15 minutes later than planned.

The kid, wanting to extend his stay, threw a bait at the father - 'Another wicket has fallen,' he announced in hope. The news update did excite the father's interest for a few seconds, but immediately upon learning that it was Shimron Hetmyer's dismissal, he dismissed his son's protests and asked him to continue watching the rest of the game on his phone.

As they were making their way out of the stadium gate, they figured out they weren't alone. A small but significant crowd - mostly in red jerseys, some in pink - were heading towards the exit. The reasons for the collective departure are unknown, but the impulse was understandable - the result of the contest was easy to assume, the entertainment for the day was over.

The timing may have all been a coincidence, or maybe not. Possibly, a spell cast upon nearly 30,000-odd people in attendance had collectively lifted. Virat Kohli had taken a diving catch at long on to remind them that there were messages on their phones to be checked, late traffic to be avoided and other worldly responsibilities to take care of. And hopefully, when the realities of life came queuing up, maybe also remember whose name was imprinted at the back of the jerseys they were wearing, and for whom they came spending the money on their match tickets.

When the Guwahati leg of IPL 2026 had started, Sooryavanshi was simply a boy-wonder, a prospect of the future. By the time it ended, in two weeks, he had shown he was much more than that. Four games into the tournament, sitting atop the run-charts, at a strike rate that's running its own solo race, he has been the best batter of the tournament, in which he has spared no reputations. Only three days after Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult were at the receiving end of his humbling attack, Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were facing his relentless assault.

Bowling away from his swinging arc or strangling him on the legside didn't deliver the expected results. Pitching full or shooting bouncers certainly did not meet the desired fate. Hazlewood's attempt to test him with rising deliveries and Krunal Pandya bending low to challenge him with a round-arm shooter failed in its objective too: both deliveries ending up past the boundary ropes. For a good while, the crowd cheered Sooryavanshi on. His batting was entertaining enough to deserve it. As the innings progressed, the voices softened. There were gasps, there was awe, there was some going silent. This is the period when the clock takes a pause.

Or let's just pretend, everyone was exhausted. It's complicated and confusing to assume when you're teased by an enigma - is he too good or is the mind stretching to the wild possibilities of brilliance; just as conflicted as Dhruv Jurel found himself at the other end - getting stressed as well as comforted by Sooryavanshi's batting. The match is being won, but is he not good enough to keep up with his younger mate?

Sooryavanshi's batting isn't pretty enough to inspire poetic descriptions. Cricket has much more beauty to gush over, like the display Jurel was putting on at the other end. But it isn't mindless slogging either. It is an upgrade to a new era of batting in T20 cricket, hitherto unseen; the one that commands the attention of those who watch the sport and those who don't, such controlled hitting that makes the pace of even Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma seem outdated.

There have been ample attempts to deconstruct Sooryavanshi's batting, but nothing quite explains beyond what's obvious - the high backlift, the big swing, the hand-eye co-ordination. Barring leggies, against whom he strikes at 136.84, there are no particular preferences for the southpaw on who sends those deliveries towards him. He takes them all on at a pace faster than 180. With his open stance and swinging arc, he isn't quite strong on the offside either, but it's equally surprising why that halts his pace against leggies.

Attempts to analyse the mindset too are working on vague assumptions at this point. Plenty of ex-cricketers are lining up with their views. Irfan Pathan suggests that Sooryavanshi likes to take on the big bowlers. In response, Harbhajan Singh offers a counter question: So, why can't the big bowlers take him on?

Over the coming months and years, there will be more nuanced deconstructions - by analysts, bowlers and fans. Maybe, someday his weaknesses will come exposed, and it will be exploited - the next game, the next season or maybe much later. After all, for all his batting brutality - one that offers a glimpse of where the next generation of cricketers will transport the game to - it's all come on flat pitches, and three out of the four innings have been at the same venue. Moreover, what's gone hidden in all his jaw-dropping explosiveness, is the admission from Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru that their bowlers erred in execution, drifting from the original plan and paying the price of it.

There will be tougher days and tougher challenges for Sooryavanshi. Enough egos have been bruised by him already, of men who don't like to be treated with such disdain when they hold a heavy ball of leather. They will come better prepared the next time - not to test or outsmart the teenager, but to pose like the alphas in the game they wish to be.

There is much more left for Sooryavanshi to prove. But all of it nullifies when it rests in the face of much simpler questions. For all the while that he was batting, were you also left rooted to your seat? Did you delay your sleep or your household chores? Did you skip responding to a call or a message? Did you let a worry wait? Did time stop for you?

But don't be in a hurry to analyse or compare it, don't be in a rush to explain. If that spell cast by his batting brilliance has blinded you, let it work its magic. Don't try hard to get out of it. Because this suspension of time is rare, very rare.

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