Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is the best player I’ve ever seen: Jos Buttler

England keeper-batter Jos Buttler has heaped praise on the 14-year-old Indian batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, calling him the best player he has ever seen after witnessing his 175-run match-winning knock against England in the ICC U19 World Cup 2026 final.

Notably, Sooryavanshi’s match-winning performance propelled India U19 to their sixth U19 World Cup title win, defeating England U19 by 100 runs in the grand finale. Speaking exclusively on the For The Love Of Cricket podcast alongside pacer Mark Wood, Buttler said Sooryavanshi’s unique batting ability at such a young age surprised him.

“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 spoke on the For The Love of Cricket Podcast. 

“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,” he added.

“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,” he observed.

It’s important to note that Sooryavanshi ended the successful ICC U19 World Cup 2026 campaign as the second-leading run-scorer, racking up 439 runs from seven innings at an average of 62.71 and a strike rate of 169.49 with a century and three half-centuries.

He would be next seen in action in the upcoming IPL 2026 season for the Rajasthan Royals.

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