It isn’t common for a 14-year old to have a signature shot that can overpower adult versions out there. But then not everyone can do what Vaibhav Suryavanshi did on Monday night during a breathtaking 101 off just 38 balls. He has polished the good-old heave-ho to the leg side to perfection, and the likes of Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna felt the brunt.
There isn’t a iota of self-doubt in that shot: from the high bat-lift to the furious blur of a down swing or in the scythe through as the bat reaches the zenith again on the unbridled follow-through. The fluidity in the big bat swing as he clears his front foot was quite something to watch but one man wasn’t a bit surprised. His childhood coach Manish Ojha, who knows Vaibhav from when he was eight-and-half years old.
But first a piece of statistics. His wagon wheel made for an interesting analysis. The majority of the runs (61%) came on the leg-side with the heave, and pull-shot to the spinners – one in front of square and one behind – being the most common on display. And if one breaks it further down, 82% of his boundaries and sixes came on the leg-side, with square-leg and mid-wicket being his strong pockets where he hit seven of his 11 sixes and another one soaring over long-on. The seamers kept bowling length or just back of length and he kept smearing them by clearing his front foot.
“Well, if the bowlers had bowled on the off side more, he would have hit them there too,” the coach Ojha warms up. He has a point as when Prasidh Krishna pinged a back of length delivery around the off stump, Vaibhav had smashed it on the up and over long-off. But it’s the almighty hack to the leg side that one is interested, for now.
“That big heave shot (to the leg side) came to the boy very early,” Ojha tells The Indian Express. “There is something unique special about Vaibhav; as a coach when you suggest a new technique, approach, he picks it and adopts it so quickly. Where some other kids might take time, or be able to do it in nets but not pull it off in a real match situation, Vaibhav does it. I don’t remember teaching him something more than once,” Ojha tells The Indian Express.
In the earlier game, there were a couple of times when he mistimed the pull shot off short stuff. There was just one bouncer attempted by Gujarat that came from Ishant but the ball was thrown back from long-leg stands. From the time Suryavanshi picked up the bat, he has been pitted against elders at the nets and local matches, who have all invariably attempted to intimidate him with short-balls and bouncers. So it wasn’t surprising that the teenager found the necessity to add the shot to his repertoire. And Ojha would ensure, he added many dimensions to it by analysing the footage of Ricky Ponting and Rahul Dravid, who both had contrasting pull shots.
“With the pull shot there are few things we work on. How to play the pull off front foot like Ricky Ponting or go back and pull like Dravid. Or how to pull it to square-leg and mid-wicket. We would work say 400 balls on the pull shot — drill it in for each type. It involved throwing, robot-arm throwing, bowling machine and then with bowlers with a field set. Vaibhav did all that with great commitment. And now he has a great coach in Dravid, and Vikram Rathour who would be giving their inputs and fresh outlook. Vaibhav has incorporated all that to bat so ‘vaibhavshali sey’,” Ojha says.
When Sachin Tendulkar tweeted in appreciation of Suryanshi, he found his fearless approach and bat speed for special mention.
“Watch his arm extension in his big hits – it goes all the way. That’s what we trained for. Sadly, 80-90 percent of young cricketers in Bihar don’t know how to do it. You can see it in Abhishek Sharma, who is Yuvraj Singh’s student. The higher the bat lift and higher it finishes on the other side (after shot), you get more power, timing. The greater the arm extension on the front side the better it is. The smoothness in body-weight transfer and good head position helps,” Ojha says.
The world was thrilled with how he tackled the high pace of the Gujarat Titans’s bowlers. It has been a product of systemic development, says the coach.
“In his early stages we started with playing 120kmph-125. Then with a bowling machine 135kmph. Soon he was playing 145+ against the machine. His senior Ranji trophy players too who could touch 150 kmph or thereabouts with the robo-arm would have a go. They would try telling him not to play at that speed but not only he would play but show that he has the time to play shots.
During his century he picked up only seven singles to go with seven boundaries and 11 sixes also gave a glimpse of his fearless approach. Again, the coach wasn’t surprised.
“Fear? Let me tell you an incident from his childhood. At the academy, in simulation practice in open-nets, he was smashing sixes and fours. I told him this year if you get selected for the age-group team, you will have to play 4-day games. You will have to do strike rotation, you are not doing it in this practice, just hitting!
“His reply was, ‘But sir, in the balls where I can hit sixes, why would I take single-doubles!’ That told me his confidence, vision, and crystal clear mindset. He knew what sort of batsman he wanted to be. After that day we (coaches) also stopped telling him to take single-doubles. If a kid could say with so much confidence that “mein isko maar sakta hoon” (that I can hit these balls) then let him do it. Patience, dedication are all needed in cricket but what is utmost is that atma vishwas (self confidence). If one has that, a kid can pull off feats that are supposedly beyond him. Do the unimaginable. And Vaibhav is the prime example of that,” Ojha says.
Suryavanshi indeed is.
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