During a recent podcast, Ravichandran Ashwin was at a loss for words when asked to analyse how a 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made a mockery of Jasprit Bumrah’s famed line and length.

After a brief pause, the legendary Indian spinner marvelled at the Rajasthan Royals' young opener’s ability to adjust in a fraction of a second.

“It was not just the sixes he hit against Bumrah, but to see the sheer audacity was mind-boggling,” Ashwin said.

“When Bumrah was bowling to the off-side field, he was already moving his feet to adjust, as if he knew where he was going to bowl. We are talking about a 15-year-old kid here. How is it even possible for him to think so fast and react? It’s unreal.”

Ashwin also made a bold prediction that the boy from Bihar is soon going to be the biggest crowd puller in cricket.  

The left-hander has already set the IPL on fire, with three back-to-back match-winning knocks in the world’s biggest T20 league.

It seems he is on track to build on his highly impressive debut season last year, when he also scored an exhilarating 35-ball hundred, the second fastest IPL century in history.

Rajasthan Royals' Vaibhav Suryavanshi plays a shot. 

Now it’s only a matter of time before he earns his India cap.

And if the selectors call him up this year after the IPL, at least for the T20 format, Sooryavanshi will be on track to become the youngest debutant in history for India, breaking the record of Sachin Tendulkar, who made his India debut at 16.

Across all sports, only a few athletes have truly dominated at the highest level before turning 20, with their phenomenal exploits becoming part of sporting folklore.  

Sooryavanshi still has a long way to go. But the buzz around him is compelling enough to revisit how some iconic names took the world by storm while they were still in their teens.

Pele, the World Cup hero

As the story goes, a nine-year-old Pele returned home after playing a game of street football with his friends when he saw his father crying inconsolably.

Dondinho, Pele’s father, was a talented centre-forward whose professional career was cut short by a serious knee injury.

But that day, an unfulfilled football dream was not the reason that made Dondinho emotional.

It was Brazil’s shock defeat to Uruguay in the final of the 1950 World Cup at Maracana in Rio de Janeiro that left him heartbroken as a football fan.

The young Pele consoled his father and promised him that one day he would win the World Cup for Brazil.

Eight years later, Pele's words turned prophetic when he emerged as the biggest star of the 1958 World Cup. The 17-year-old scored six goals in the tournament, including two in the final against hosts Sweden, which Brazil won 5-2, leaving Pele with tears of joy at the final whistle.

Pele (left) cries after Brazil won the 1958 World Cup final. 

Brazil had many heroes in that tournament, but none shone brighter than the teen sensation who announced his arrival as the new global superstar with his dazzling skills, incredible close control and predatory finishing instinct.

The young maestro

When a nasty Waqar Younis bouncer hit a 16-year-old Sachin Tendulkar’s nose, with his face covered in blood, the Pakistani fielders mocked him with taunting gestures.

Test cricket, a few of them reportedly quipped, is not an arena for a 16-year-old to step into.

But Tendulkar played on, showing the heart of a gladiator and the composure of a 100-Test veteran to bail India out of a precarious situation with a valiant half-century.

Less than a year later, Tendulkar would go on to score the first hundred of his career, a sublime match-saving knock against England in Manchester, becoming the second youngest man to complete a century in Test cricket.  

Tendulkar at Perth. 

He was only 18 when he scored two majestic Test hundreds in Australia, the second of which was a wondrous 114 at Perth, the world’s fastest and bounciest wicket, which compelled John Woodcock, the revered English cricket writer, to get up from his seat at the media centre and announce: “Ladies and gentleman, this young kid is the best batsman I have ever seen in my life. And unlike all of you, I have seen Don Bradman bat!”   

Tendulkar was no longer the young sensation with a rare spark. He was already the finished article in terms of batting mastery.

His 111 against South Africa at Johannesburg in 1993 was a masterclass in the art of batting against fast bowlers in seamer-friendly conditions.

No wonder he remains the only player to have scored five Test hundreds, four of which came in England, Australia and South Africa, before turning 20.   

Magnificent Monica

You don’t get into a Grand Slam final to grab the bull by its horns. At 16, any youngster would be content to compete with Steffi Graf, the queen of women’s tennis, in a major final.

But Monica Seles was not just any youngster. A fiery left-hander from the erstwhile Yugoslavia, few had given Seles a chance of taking Graf to the distance when she stepped onto the court for the 1990 French Open final.

The only player to win the Golden Slam in history (four Grand Slams as well as the Olympic gold in 1988), Graf was an irresistible force in women’s tennis.

But Seles fought fire with fire before knocking the stuffing out of the German with a straight-sets (7-6 6-4) win.

Seles with the French Open trophy in 1990. 

That was the beginning of the Seles era in tennis as the youngster went on to topple Graf as the world number one, winning seven more Grand Slams before turning 20.

No player in the history of tennis has won as many Grand Slams as a teenager as Seles.

But tragedy struck when she seemed destined to break all records.

A German tennis fan obsessed with Graf stabbed her with a knife during a tournament in Hamburg, leaving her seriously injured.

The incident forced her out of the game for two years, and she was never the same player again after her return to competitive tennis.

But her exploits as a teenager placed her among the greatest athletes the world has ever known.

What’s next for Sooryavanshi?

Will Sooryavanshi be able to replicate his IPL form in international cricket and join the league of iconic teenage champions?

While former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan sees Sooryavanshi 'dominate' international cricket for 20 years, South African legend Graeme Smith believes the youngster has what it takes to be a ‘proper superstar’.

Only time will tell if he can make the transition to the big stage. But looking at the predictions from some of the marquee names, we could be in for another thrilling ride from this incredibly gifted teenager.

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