Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 175 - What an innings!

I've just witnessed one of the best innings by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Read what he had to say: Walking off after 175 off 80 balls in a World Cup final, I knew I had lived through the kind of day cricketers spend their childhood dreaming about, but never quite dare to expect. On the biggest stage of the Under-19 World Cup, against England in Harare, everything I had worked on in the nets, every failure, every small innings leading up to this tournament, seemed to come together in one surreal afternoon. From the moment I took guard, I could feel the occasion, but I was determined not to let it overpower me. We had lost Aaron George early, and for a brief moment there was a quiet tension in the middle, the sort of silence where you can almost hear every doubt trying to creep in. Instead of retreating, I told myself to trust my game: watch the ball, play straight, and let the innings build. Once a few drives pierced the infield and found the rope, I sensed the pitch, the timing, and the rhythm tilting in my favour. What followed didn’t feel like recklessness; it felt like clarity. My hundred came up in 55 balls, but at the crease it felt less like a race and more like a natural progression of good decisions, one ball at a time. England kept changing their plans, fuller, shorter, wider, slower, yet I found myself picking lengths early, staying balanced, and trusting my swing. Spin, especially, felt like an invitation: when they tossed it up, I used my feet; when they dragged it short, I rocked back and hit through or over the field with confidence that surprised even me. The real turning point was after reaching three figures. In many innings, a milestone brings relief and a slight dip in intensity, but this time it had the opposite effect. I felt completely in control, so I shifted gears again, racing from 100 to 150 in just 16 balls, barely noticing the numbers, only the feel of the ball on the middle of the bat and the roar around Harare Sports Club. By then, fours and sixes were flowing, 15 of each by the time I was done, but what pleased me most was that it never felt like wild slogging; it was power with a plan. When I finally walked back for 175, there was a mix of fatigue, relief, and a deep, quiet satisfaction. I knew I had helped put India in a dominant position in a World Cup final, and at just 14, that realization hit me harder than any ball I faced. People will talk about the records the strike rate, the 15 sixes, the speed of the century, the place this knock now holds in Under-19 World Cup history, but for me, this innings will always be about something more personal. It was the day the game rewarded my faith, the day my belief in my own game felt fully justified, and the day I proved to myself that even on the biggest stage, I belong.