Under 19 World Cup: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi can't play for India's men's team right now – Here's why

Harare Sports Club is still buzzing, but the after-shocks of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s batting pyrotechnics in the 2026 Under-19 World Cup final have already rolled across continents. The 14-year-old opener from Bikar, Bihar, carved out 175 off 80 deliveries against England, an innings punctuated by 15 sixes and a strike rate that felt almost mischievous for a showpiece final. The knock sealed India’s title, earned him the Player-of-the-Tournament award, and ignited a single, insistent question: when will he graduate to the senior national side?

The short answer is “not yet,” and the reason sits in the ICC’s rulebook. In 2020 the International Cricket Council introduced a Minimum Age Policy that bars any player under 15 from appearing in full internationals, a safeguard designed to protect mental and physical well-being. Born on 27 March 2011, Vaibhav was still 14 when he tore the U19 World Cup apart in February 2026. Until he reaches the age threshold later this year, an India cap is off-limits.

Paradoxically, the teenager has also outgrown the very tournament that made him famous. The BCCI’s One-Tournament regulation allows a player only one crack at the U19 World Cup, a measure intended to stop age-group camping and keep the pathway fluid. Having conquered the 2026 edition, Vaibhav will be ineligible for the 2028 and 2030 events even though he will still be under 19 when they are played.

The numbers that frame his rise explain the clamour. In the past 12 months he has:

- Blitzed the highest score in a U19 final: 175 off 80 balls - Clubbed 30 sixes in the 2026 tournament, eclipsing Dewald Brevis’ previous record - Become the youngest List-A centurion in history at 14 years 272 days - Slammed the fastest 150 ever recorded, off 59 balls in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, eclipsing AB de Villiers’ mark - Struck the youngest IPL hundred—35 balls for Rajasthan Royals at 14 years 32 days - Crashed the first T20 ton for India A, a 32-ball century against UAE - Registered the fastest Youth ODI hundred, from 52 balls versus England U19 - Whipped the fastest Youth Test hundred by an Indian, 58 balls, second-fastest globally - Become the youngest centurion in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy history with an unbeaten 108 - Become the first player to clear the rope 100 times in Youth ODIs

For the moment the Sooryavanshi Storm is legally confined to domestic cricket and franchise leagues. Yet the calendar is unambiguous: once the clock strikes midnight on his 15th birthday in late 2026, the path to the senior India squad will be clear, and the wait—like many of his innings—could be spectacularly brief.