England star Jos Buttler hailed India’s 15-year-old sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, calling him the “best player he has ever seen” after the teenager’s stunning match-winning 175 against England in the final of the men’s 2026 Under-19 World Cup. The knock, the highest individual score in a knockout or final in Youth ODIs, powered India to a sixth U19 World Cup title.
Speaking on the For The Love Of Cricket podcast alongside pacer Mark Wood, Buttler said Sooryavanshi’s ability at such a young age left him in awe. “My statement about Sooryavanshi is: he’s the best player I’ve ever seen. If he’s doing that at 14, what’s he going to be doing at 16, 18, or 20?” Buttler said.
Buttler also reflected on having seen the youngster up close during the IPL, where Sooryavanshi had already announced himself on the big stage. “I played in the game where he got 100 in the IPL. Even as a 14-year-old at that point, playing against an attack of Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, and Rashid Khan, proper bowling attacks, I was in awe of these shots.”
“The bat flow, the distance he’s hitting the ball, that fearlessness… and I must say, the England boys played so well throughout that whole Under-19 World Cup. They went unbeaten into the final, and then you run into Sooryavanshi, who scores 175 in the end with 14 fours and 15 sixes. I was watching it on TV, thinking these are not just any old shots; they’re some of the best shots you’ve ever seen.”
England fast bowler Wood admitted he was equally stunned by what he witnessed, drawing a humorous comparison with his own teenage years.
“I think of what I was doing at 14, and I think of what he’s doing at 14. I mean, unbelievable. The closest I got to anything at that stage was the pressure of a snowball fight in the schoolyard. That was probably as close as I got to that sort of pressure. I mean, unreal. 14 years old, and he plays shots like an experienced 30-year-old,” Wood chuckled.
Wood also sympathised with the England U19 side that found itself helpless against Sooryavanshi’s onslaught in the final. “Watching that game, sometimes they didn’t do a lot wrong. It was almost like we shifted a field and then he’d hit it in that gap, and it was just like this is one of those days! Just happens to be in the final. It’s just he played so well,” Wood added.
Sooryavanshi’s exploits are not limited to age-group cricket. In the previous IPL season, he featured in seven matches for Rajasthan Royals, hammering a century against Buttler’s Gujarat Titans and following it up with a fluent 57 against Chennai Super Kings.
When Wood asked whether the teenager could become an “absolute superstar” or risk being derailed by pressure in the coming years, Buttler was unequivocal.
“Don’t see how he can’t be (an absolute superstar),” he said.
“To be playing the way he can at 14 years old. If he hadn’t played in the IPL, you’d say, ‘Oh, he’s only done it in under 19 World Cup, and yes, it’s amazing, but let’s see when he steps up to senior cricket’. But he’s already played in IPL, and he’s got 100. He hit his first ball in the IPL for six. In the game he got 57 against Chennai, there were Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja bowling. He was whacking the ball for six and then sort of tapping one off his hip to trot down the other end like a seasoned pro just seeing his team home. So I can’t imagine what can derail that sort of a player,” Buttler added.