After watching Vaibhav Sooryavanshi produce one of the great IPL seasons from close quarters, Rajasthan Royals (RR) coach Kumar Sangakkara feels that the 15-year-old is ready to make the step up to international cricket.
Sooryavanshi struck 776 runs in 16 innings in IPL 2026 at a strike rate of 237.30, with 684 of those runs coming in boundaries alone.
"With everything Vaibhav's shown against some of the best bowlers in the world, I think he's more than ready to take on any challenge that you throw at him," Sangakkara said after RR lost Qualifier 2 to Gujarat Titans (GT). "I'm sure that he'll get that call-up very, very soon. He's batted with a lot of maturity, he has shouldered the responsibility of that opening partnership so well for us this season."
On Saturday on a two-paced track in New Chandigarh, GT's tall quicks tested Sooryavanshi with a barrage of short balls. But, after surviving that, he problem-solved his way to 96 off 47 balls, despite wickets falling around him. Sangakkara lauded his clarity and composure under pressure.
"Yeah, I think we've got a good plan around him," Sangakkara said. "We don't clutter his mind too much. He comes to all our team meetings, he contributes, he listens, and he does a lot of homework. He practises well and he reads bowlers well, he watches their videos and prepares himself really well. So we don't want to put any unnecessary thoughts into his head. I think a clear mind, batting with that courage is exactly what we want to see of him."
With Sam Curran missing the entire season with injury and captain Riyan Parag and Ravindra Jadeja managing their own injuries towards the latter stages of the tournament, RR had quite a few curveballs thrown at them. In the circumstances, Sangakkara was pleased with how their rookie bowlers Brijesh Sharma and Yash Raj Punja transitioned into RR from state-run T20 competitions and blended with the seniors in the IPL.
"I think everyone should be extremely proud of themselves," Sangakkara said. "I mean, Yash had a great season and Brijesh had a very good season but everyone around them, to Riyan to Dhruv [Jurel] also. Dhruv sometimes goes unnoticed, Don [Donovan Ferreira] in the middle, Jofra Archer, Jadeja, [Shubham] Dubey in a few games for us.
"Everyone who came in tried their best, so I think from where we were last season [ninth] to have got here, dragging ourselves here is a great sign. I think there's a lot more in the tank for these players, but I can't be prouder of a team than I am now. They're a wonderful bunch of guys, highly skilled, and they played really hard to get where they got to and where we got to. Unfortunately, we couldn't make the final."
Sangakkara was also impressed with Parag's leadership skills in his first full season as an IPL captain and backed him to level up next year.
"I thought Riyan's first season as captain was excellent," Sangakkara said. "He really managed his team well. He managed his on-field decisions quite well. He will grow and learn, so will the other players, and we will just come back better. I think no one really probably gave us a chance to qualify [for the playoffs] when we started the campaign.
"But it just goes to show that when you work hard, you play some good cricket and you enjoy playing this game, you can make some special things happen."