July 4 (Reuters) – Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, aged 15, became the youngest male cricketer to debut for India after being named in the team for their Twenty20 International match against England on Saturday, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar.
The teenager has been billed as one of the most exciting prospects in cricket since he made his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut for Rajasthan Royals in 2025 at just 14 years old.
He enhanced his reputation in this year’s IPL, finishing as the leading run-scorer for Rajasthan with 776 runs in 16 matches, and breaking Chris Gayle’s record for most sixes in a season.
He was named both the Most Valuable Player (MVP) and the Best Emerging Player in the competition, earning him a call-up to the T20I series against Ireland and England.
Sooryavanshi was not given his debut against Ireland as India were dealt a shock 2-0 series defeat.
Here’s a list of the youngest male cricketers to have debuted for India across formats:
Player Age Debut Format
against
Vaibhav 15 years, 99 days England T20I
Sooryavanshi on July
4, 2026
Sachin Tendulkar 16 years, 205 Pakistan Test
days on
November
15, 1989
Parthiv Patel 17 years, 152 days England Test
on August
8, 2002
Maninder Singh 17 years, 193 days Pakistan Test
on
December
23, 1982
Harbhajan Singh 17 years, 265 days Australia Test
on March
25, 1998
(Compiled by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Chopra)