New Delhi: Bihar teen prodigy Vaibhav Suryavanshi on Monday became the youngest player to be picked in the IPL mega auction 2025 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. At the age of 13 years and 243 days, Vaibhav was sold to Rajasthan Royals for INR 1.10 crore.
Vaibhav’s talent has been talked a lot in the age-group cricket levels, which fast forwarded him to make debut in the Ranji Trophy earlier this year in January. He became the youngest centurion when he made 104 for India A against Australia A during an unofficial Test match played in Chennai in October this year.
Despite all the buzz over the 13-year-old’s promising career, there are questions whether he will be eligible to play in the IPL or not. It brings the ICC’s rule into consideration over players’ eligible age to participate in international cricket.
In November 2020, the global governing cricket body introduced a minimum age policy rule, wherein a player must reach 15 years to play for an international team.
“The Board confirmed the introduction of minimum age restrictions for international cricket to improve safeguarding of players which will apply across all cricket including ICC events, bilateral cricket and U19 cricket. To play in any form of men’s, women’s or U19 international cricket players must now be a minimum age of 15,” the ICC released a statement back then.
However, there is an exception to the rule where the national board of a country can request the ICC to permit a particular player to participate for the international team. Ever since the rule was brought in, there has been no such request made for exceptional permission.
Here’s why ICC’s rule won’t matter for Vaibhav Suryavanshi to participate in IPL
It should be noted that the IPL tournament doesn’t fall under ICC’s jurisdiction as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) solely monitors the rules and regulations for the T20 franchise competition. As of now, there is no age eligibility rule mentioned by the Indian board to participate in the IPL.
Who is youngest international debutant?
Pakistan’s Hasan Raza made his debut for the national team at the age of 14 years and 227 days when played a Test match against Zimbabwe in Faisalabad in 1996. In January 2019, Meet Bhavsar broke Raza’s record when he debuted for Kuwait against Maldives in an ACC tournament. Meet holds the record at the age of years and 211 days.
Bihar teen prodigy Vaibhav Suryavanshi on Monday became the youngest player to be picked in the IPL mega auction 2025 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. At the age of 13 years and 243 days, Vaibhav was sold to Rajasthan Royals for INR 1.10 crore. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
