Vaibhav Sooryavanshi becomes youngest men’s T20 captain at 15 years and 232 days

Batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has become the youngest men’s T20 captain at 15 years and 232 days. The left-handed Indian opener achieved this feat when he walked out to captain Bihar against Saurashtra on Saturday (Nov 14) in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT), breaking the previous record held by Croatia's Zach Vukusic, who captained his national team at 17 years and 311 days. This is just another milestone in rookie Sooryavanshi’s brief career, coming just five months after his India T20I debut, in which he became the youngest Indian men’s player to feature for the national team.

Sooryavanshi won the toss and elected to bat first at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. The attacking batter scored just 18 off 12 balls, hitting a six and two fours before being dismissed caught and bowled by Chetan Sakariya.

WATCH Sooryavanshi's Dismissal -

After this match, Sooryavanshi will be available for just one SMAT fixture before joining the India A squad for the ACC Rising Stars Emerging tournament – played in the 50-over format in Doha from November 19.

Meanwhile, Saturday’s SMAT fixture is Sooryavanshi’s eighth T20 for Bihar and 44th overall, with 23 of those coming for Rajasthan Royals in IPL. During his previous appearance in the ACC Rising Stars Emerging competition, Vaibhav smashed the joint-third-fastest T20 hundred by an Indian, slamming 144 off 42 balls for India A against the UAE last November.

Sooryavanshi’s last India appearance came during the recently concluded New Zealand T20I series, in which he played the second and third T20Is, smashing a 19-ball fifty in the series-clinching third match. After failing to score in his first game on New Zealand soil at number three, Sooryavanshi was promoted to the top alongside Abhishek Sharma, with the two adding a record-breaking 133 for the first wicket in Wellington.