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Former Indian batter Robin Uthappa has made a comparison between the teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and the Australian legend Sir Don Bradman that has caught everyone's attention after the Men in Blue’s Zimbabwe tour.
Uthappa said that it is still too early to say how big a player Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will become, but he believes that the youngster has one batting quality that reminds him of Bradman. Amid this, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi opens up on dream Zimbabwe tour, VVS Laxman's support and Ishan Kishan's role.
His comments came after the left-handed batter made a stunning comeback in the recent three-match T20I series and finished as the Player of the Series in Zimbabwe following his disappointing debut series in England.
Robin Uthappa finds a special similarity between Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Sir Don Bradman
After India’s 3-0 T20I series win against Zimbabwe, Robin Uthappa explained that during Sir Don Bradman’s playing days, bowlers had to come up with body-line bowling because normal bowling plans were not enough to stop him from scoring runs.
The former Indian batter feels bowlers are now trying something similar against Vaibhav Sooryavanshi because they are still looking for ways to control his attacking batting. He also said Vaibhav has a batting technique that makes it very difficult for bowlers to get him out leg before wicket (LBW), and Bradman also had a similar strength in his batting.
Robin Uthappa said in a video on his YouTube channel, “It's hard to say that now. We haven't really seen the bowlers respond to what Vaibhav is doing. People are just coming to terms with the way he's batting. So, we'll have to wait and see. Because when Bradman was batting the way he did, what they resorted to was bodyline. Vaibhav has a similar technique to Bradman, where he almost never got out LBW.”
Consistency will decide how far Vaibhav Sooryavanshi goes
Uthappa believes that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's biggest challenge will be to continue performing at the same level over a long time. He feels if the teenager maintains his attacking strike rate and keeps scoring plenty of runs, he could become one of the rare players he has ever seen.
The former CSK star also wondered how Don Bradman's record would have looked if World War II had not interrupted his career and if the Australian legend had played around 30 more Test matches. Amid this, India Test squad was announced for the Sri Lanka series.
He further shared, “If Vaibhav can maintain an average in the high 40s with his strike rate, he could be considered an outlier. It would have also been interesting to see if the World War 2 hadn't happened and Bradman had played 30 Tests more, would be have still averaged 99 or over a 100?”
Modern cricket gives players more freedom
Uthappa has pointed out that the modern-era cricketers are not forced to follow one fixed batting style, as they are more confident in playing their natural game instead of copying traditional techniques.
He added, “Outliers also happen a lot more now than ever before. It's because people aren't reliant on traditional bowling or batting techniques. Any technique has become more acceptable today. More players are relying on their natural god-given ability than a particular way of playing.”
The former Indian batter has further noted that every batter is finding his own way to score runs, and most of them have achieved success, which has made the game even more exciting.
Uthappa signed off by saying, “That's why MS Dhoni was accepted as he did his own thing, similar to Vaibhav now, who's doing his own thing. Yet, you still enjoy a Sachin Tendulkar, Shubman Gill, or Virat Kohli, who bat their own way as well.”
