Indian batter Vaibhav Suryavanshi on Saturday made history as the youngest ever IPL player at 14 years old after Rajasthan Royals brought him in as their impact substitute against Lucknow Super Giants.

Suryavanshi, a left-hand batsman, earned a deal in the lucrative T20 tournament after Rajasthan bought him for $130,500 in the November auction when he was still aged just 13.

At 14 years and 23 days, Suryavanshi easily beat the previous record for the IPL’s youngest debutant held by Prayas Ray Barman, who was 16 years and 157 days old when he played for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2019, AFP reported.

Suryavanshi was added as an impact player for the match at Rajasthan’s home in Jaipur after skipper Sanju Samson was ruled out due to injury.

The teenager then came out to open the innings alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal as Rajasthan sought to chase down 181, replacing medium-pace bowler Sandeep Sharma.

Suryavanshi made an instant impact when he smacked his first ball for a six — a flat-batted hit over the extra-cover boundary — off pace bowler Shardul Thakur.

The baby-faced Suryavanshi, called “Boss Baby” — a popular animated film — by the TV commentators, smashed 34 before being stumped off South African spinner Aiden Markram.

The youngster hit two fours and three sixes in his 20-ball knock and put on 85 runs for the first wicket with fellow left-hander Jaiswal, who has played 19 Tests for India.

Suryavanshi comes from India’s poorest state, Bihar, and his father is a farmer and part-time journalist, according to Indian media.

He is an explosive batter and rose to prominence with a 58-ball century in an Under-19 Test against Australia — the second fastest ton in youth Tests after England’s Moeen Ali, who hit 100 in 56 balls in 2005.

Suryavanshi made his domestic Ranji debut aged 12 in January last year.

Rajasthan coach Rahul Dravid was impressed by his trial in the net session prior to the auction and later said Suryavanshi has got “some really good skills”.

Sunday’s lineup

Sunday, April 20, once again delivers a thrilling double-header, which Ariana Television will broadcast live and exclusively in Afghanistan. 

First up will be Punjab Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore. This match starts at 2pm.

The second match of the day will see Mumbai Indians take on Chennai Super Kings at 5pm.

Punjab Kings (PBKS) created history in front of a roaring home crowd at the New PCA Stadium in New Chandigarh on Tuesday with the lowest total successfully defended in the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

Defending 112, PBKS stunned Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by bowling them out for 95 on the back of highly inspired spells from the IPL’s all-time leading wicket-taker Yuzvendra Chahal (4/28) and Marco Jansen (3/17).

KKR were cruising along at 62/2 in the chase before they lost eight wickets for 33 runs and were all out in the 16th over as Jansen cleaned up Andre Russell. 

The same fixture that saw PBKS recording the highest successful chase in IPL history when they chased down 262 in 2024, also produced one of the greatest low-scoring thrillers the league has ever seen.

Punjab are now fourth but join four other sides on eight points at the top of the table, while KKR are sixth.

Wednesday’s match

Today’s match – Wednesday April 16 – will see Delhi Capitals take on Rajasthan Royals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. In what is expected to be another thriller, fans in Afghanistan can tune in to Ariana Television to watch this match live from 5:30 pm. 

Priyansh Arya became only the second batter to score a hundred in IPL 2025 when he notched up a 42-ball 103 in Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) home match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Mullanpur on Tuesday. 

This was his maiden IPL century and it came off just 39 balls and it was the joint-fourth fastest hundred in the IPL. 

Punjab Kings won by 18 runs.

Arya however set the tone for Tuesday’s match in emphatic fashion from the very first ball when he hit a six. This is only the fourth time an IPL match has begun with a maximum. 

He then went on to hammer nine sixes and seven fours in a breathtaking 103 off just 42 balls. In doing so, he became only the eighth uncapped player in IPL history to register a century. 

Arya’s rise to prominence through his explosive performances in the Delhi Premier League is well-documented. He was the tournament’s leading run-scorer in 2024, amassing over 600 runs in 10 matches, including two centuries and four half-centuries. 

His standout performances caught the attention of IPL scouts, leading to his acquisition by the Punjab Kings for INR 3.8 crore (about $500,000) – a substantial investment in the flamboyant 24-year-old batter.

Arya, who was Player of the Match, said after Tuesday’s match that his century was an “out of the world feeling. I feel very happy but I feel I should contribute more to the team. Shreyas told me to bat with intent, you go for it even with your first ball after I got out last match. When Nehal came out to bat, I told him we will look for singles and doubles, but he told me you play the way with whatever first comes to your mind. All bowlers are good, any bowler could have troubled me.”

Wednesday’s match

Gujarat Titans will take on Rajasthan Royals today, Wednesday April 9.  The match will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad and a high-scoring contest could be on the cards.

Fans across Afghanistan can tune in to watch the match, live and exclusively on Ariana Television from 5:30 pm.