For months Jos Buttler has only spoken his heart out about Vaibhav Suryavanshi on the For The Love Of Cricket podcast with fellow Stuart Broad and in some of the interviews, after the 15-year-old's stellar run in the past year with the bat across formats and tournaments.
When the Englishman met the youngster in person, Buttler couldn't hold his emotions as even urged the Rajasthan Royals to not excite the kid "too much".
The incident took place on the eve of Rajasthan Royals' away encounter against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Notably, Buttler played for Rajasthan Royals for eight years, from 2018 to 2024 before shifting to Gujarat Titans.
In a light-hearted conversation with Rajasthan Royals manager Romi Bhinder and Suryavanshi, Buttler said on face, "I said the best player I've ever seen. I said don't get him too excited." The video, shared by Rajasthan Royals franchise, went viral in no time.
Having been roped for ā¹1,1 crore at the IPL 2025 auction, Suryavanshi broke into the scene, when he was given a chance following Sanju Samson's injury last year. In the third match of his IPL career, the then 14-year-old slammed a century of just 35 balls, against Gujarat Titans. Buttler was at the opposition when Suryavanshi was smacking all round the park.
Suryavanshi wants to emulate Buttler
Since then it was no looking back for the lad from Bihar's Samastipur. The southpaw then went on to score hundreds in seven different countries, including a 175 in the final of the U-19 World Cup 2026, thus breaking England's hearts at the Harare Sports Club.
Buttler was left thinking how good Suryavanshi would become five to six years down the line, and even reminded him about the U19 World Cup final. "Imagine when he is 21 or 25, world at his feet. So good to watch," added Buttler, while shaking hands with a shy Suryavanshi. "You broke English hearts in the U19 World Cup. It's awesome," added the Englishman.
That's not all. In the video, Bhinder also informed that Suryavanshi had once said that he wants to break all the records of Buttler. "Playing so well, great to watch, keep it up. That freedom is so good to watch," Buttler concluded.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi in IPL 2026 so far
In the onlu game against Chennai Super Kings so far, Suryavanshi started from where he left last year. Chasing CSK's 127, Rajasthan Royals rode on Vaibhav Suryavanshi's 17-ball 52 and Yashasvi Jaiswal's 38 not out to rom home with eight wickets in hand. On Saturday, the demons of the last year will once again resurface on the Gujarat Titans' minds when both teams take the field at the Narendra Modi Stadium at 7:30 PM IST.
Meanwhile, the Rajasthan Royals opening pair of Jaiswal and Suryavanshi stand on the verge of becoming the fastest pair in IPL history to reach 500 partnership runs in terms of balls taken. Currently, Jaiswal and Suryavanshi have scored 497 runs in 246 balls.
The record for the 'fastest to 500 partnership runs' is currently held by Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, who achieved this record in just 309 balls during their playing days for Delhi Capitals (formerly Delhi Daredevils).
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