“If you speak of talent, yes he is as talented as Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli. This much talent is visible in him. But only in T20 cricket. In the rest of the formats, he will have to prove himself." With these words the great Kapil Dev marked a careful, balanced and good observation on the talent of none other than Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, one of the most talked about cricketers, truth be told, in not just the world of Indian cricket but in fact, Global cricket as we know it! Someone might refer to the above observation as bland praise while some may actually consider it be a bit of a balanced assessment, clearly depending upon how big a fan you really are of the game itself. Isn’t it?
But here’s what’s also important. It is a matter of fact that when a young cricketer makes buzz given his talent, irrespective of what individual skills amplify the sport, be it batting or bowling, there is much hype. As is also the case with the left hander. He has quite simply taken the world of T20 cricket by a storm, which is what the great Kapil Dev alludes to in his marked observation of Sooryavanshi.
But here’s also a fact to be considered. Mr Kapil Dev isn’t far from saying the truth and it’s that regardless of his captivating talent, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has lit up the world of T20 cricket thanks to his smashing batting episodes as seen in the realm of the IPL. He happened to top the scoring charts at the end of the 2026 edition of the tournament wherein he notched up north of 750 runs.
He bats with a sense of freedom and daring that is uncanny and rare to see.
But what is also, at the very same time, true is that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is yet to prove his potential in an Indian jersey. He is yet to showcase what he can likely do when he represents the Indian cricket team and not an IPL franchise. And he can only get on with the job when given or afforded a real chance.
So whilst lofty comparisons with icons of our game in the form of Tendulkar and Kohli are natural, things do get stretchy when reality hits and it’s that these are two massive names in the world of cricket. They have, for years together, maintained a sense of consistency that can be only envied and not emulated and that’s happened at the back of heavy run making across formats. Not just one particular form of the game!
Therefore, better sense prevails to not burden Vaibhav Sooryavanshi unnecessarily against such heavy lifting such as comparison made against Sachin and Kohli and to give his endearing talent a platform in which it can bloom and take good shape. And that can happen with time. Not with unreal expectations being put on him.
