At 15, Suryavanshi Becomes Youngest Captain in Men's T20 Cricket History
Vaibhav Suryavanshi has set a world record by becoming the youngest captain in the history of men's T20 cricket, at just 15 years and 232 days. He achieved the feat by leading Bihar in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India's domestic T20 tournament.
Bihar's first match of the 2026-27 tournament was against Saurashtra in Indore. By taking the field against the strong side led by Jaydev Unadkat, Suryavanshi claimed the record as his own.
The previous record belonged to Croatia's Jack Vukusic, who had held the distinction of youngest T20 captain after leading his country at 17 years and 311 days.
Records are nothing new in Suryavanshi's young career. Only five months ago he made his international T20 debut for India, and before that the left-handed batter played an important role in India's title win at the Under-19 World Cup.
He could not, however, shine with the bat on his captaincy debut. Batting first after Bihar won the toss, Suryavanshi returned to the pavilion after scoring 18 runs off 12 balls, caught and bowled by left-arm pacer Chetan Sakariya.
Bihar have lost their first four matches of the current Ranji Trophy season. In such difficult times, Suryavanshi's presence in the side is being seen as a major boost for the team.
He will get to play only one more match in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, however. After that he will join the India A squad for the ACC Rising Stars Emerging tournament, which begins in Doha on November 19 and will be played in the 50-over format.
The teenage batter most recently played for India on the tour of New Zealand, where he scored 45 runs off just 19 balls in one T20 and built a 133-run opening partnership in only 7.1 overs with Abhishek Sharma. Suryavanshi played two matches on that tour, and India won the five-match series 3-2.
So far he has played eight T20 matches for Bihar and 44 in total, including 23 matches in the IPL for Rajasthan Royals.
Last November, playing for India A against the United Arab Emirates, Suryavanshi smashed a devastating 144 runs off just 42 balls. That century in the ACC Rising Stars tournament was jointly the third-fastest T20 hundred by an Indian batter. Alongside his string of batting feats, he has now written his name into world cricket as a captain as well.
