Former chairman of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Lalit Modi, believes that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi would be the face of Indian cricket in the coming years.
IPL is said to be Modi’s brainchild. He was the first to see value in the privatisation of cricket in India, at par with the football leagues around the world. Many have praised his eye for talent, too.
Now, in a conversation with a former England captain, Michael Vaughan, for The Overlap Cricket, Modi revealed that he couldn’t believe his eyes the first time he watched Sooryavanshi bat. Though he didn’t mention the exact game, it was likely during IPL 2025 when the Rajasthan Royals talent was 14.
“I can tell you that kid is going to go out there and be the face of Indian cricket in the future. Look at the confidence on the kid’s face. 14 years old! My son is 14… I saw this kid hit, [I thought] ‘Not possible, I am dreaming. It’s not possible that this kid is 14. Seriously?’ I am Googling it, I am calling out people, [asking], ‘Is this real or is somebody making this up?’ And I am getting these messages, and I tell them I am watching. Not once, not twice, this guy has outperformed everybody,” Modi said on the show.
Vaughan, in reply, expressed worry about how Sooryavanshi would be able to manage the money and the stardom that would fall his way because of his IPL success. And Modi acknowledged that that would be the next step that the IPL needs to take to protect its players’ interests.
Modi acknowledged that the IPL has made many cricketers ‘monsters’ because of their greed for the latest watch or sports car, but said it has also given players like Sooryavanshi.
“The good thing is we probably have another 50 of them in our country,” he said. “And this is what the IPL has done: it has opened up a whole arena for people to aspire to,” he added.
