Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has received what could be the biggest compliment of his young career after being compared to legendary all-rounder Sir Garfield Sobers. While earlier comparisons with Sachin Tendulkar had surfaced, the latest — and perhaps most striking — likeness has come from former England batter Mark Butcher, who believes Sooryavanshi’s batting closely mirrors that of Sobers.
Sooryavanshi, known for his explosive stroke play, is riding the wave of a remarkable year in top-flight cricket. From becoming the youngest centurion in IPL history to scoring hundreds in England, South Africa and Australia, and capping it off with an Under-19 World Cup triumph, the teenager could hardly have scripted a better start to his professional journey. Butcher, however, elevated the praise by drawing direct parallels between him and one of the greatest cricketers of all time.
“The first thing that flashed in my head was Gary Sobers. The violence in the bat swing, the timing and the purity of the contact. The hand speed, the way that he uses his legs. The way the bat follows through all the way around until it almost slaps him in the middle of his back — that is pure Sobers,” Butcher said on the Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast.
Sobers, widely regarded as the greatest all-rounder in cricket history, remains one of the most complete players the game has seen. He was the first batter to hit six sixes in an over, achieving the feat for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan in 1968.
At first glance, comparing 14-year-old Sooryavanshi to a giant of the game like Sobers may seem premature. But Butcher stood firmly by his assessment, urging fans to revisit archival footage for themselves.
“I would urge people from a different generation who don’t have that image of Sir Gary Sobers in their mind to look up the video of him hitting six sixes off Malcolm Nash. Just watch it. I swear to God, it looks exactly the same. Sooryavanshi is astonishing to watch — the way he uses his legs to drive the bat swing and the way the bat keeps moving until it wraps around his back. That is pure Sobers,” he added.
The comparison inevitably recalls Don Bradman’s famous praise for Sachin Tendulkar. Bradman once remarked that watching Tendulkar bat reminded him of his own playing days, noting a striking similarity in technique.
Whether Sooryavanshi ultimately reaches such towering heights remains to be seen, but for now, the comparison alone underscores the extraordinary promise of the young prodigy. (Agencies)
