Former Indian keeper-batter and commentator Robin Uthappa has stated that the 15-year-old explosive opening batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will have a bigger impact across white-ball formats than Sachin Tendulkar.
Sooryavanshi smacked an impressive half-century in the recently concluded T20I series against Zimbabwe, emerging as the youngest-ever cricketer to win the player of the series award in the three-match series.
Speaking exclusively on the CommBoxTV YouTube channel, Uthappa has asserted that Sooryavanshi should be managed properly, and he shouldn’t go down the route of Vinod Kambli and Prithvi Shaw.
“He could have a bigger impact on white-ball than Tendulkar. But how he’s managed is going to be important. We’ve seen in Indian cricket exciting players come through the ranks. We saw Vinod Kambli and Prithvi Shaw and started asking what they would become when they were 17-18 years old. And then suddenly they fall off the wagon,” Robin Uthappa said on the CommBoxTV YouTube channel.
Additionally, the former Indian cricketer also warned the teen batting prodigy of female attention that could come his way once he turns 18, adding that he needs to stay pristine for the game over a longer period of time.
“So that will be Vaibhav’s first test. Can he stay pristine for the game over a period of five years? He’s 15 now, so can he stay pristine till he’s 20? There’s so much innocence to who he is that you want that to be protected. I love the fact that he’s saying no to every advertisement and he’s focusing only on cricket. Because when he’s 18, he’ll start being perceived as a man and the female attention will come. That can be a distraction as well,” he added.
“There will be trials and tribulations in his career, and how he overcomes those will be key. I only hope he has the right support system and mentors to protect him from the world and allow him to live in a bubble until he is ready to explore the outside world. His career is not going to be as pristine as we want it to be. There are going to be ups and downs as part of the journey,” he concluded.
