IPL: Enjoy 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s glorious ton in isolation or else it will become a millstone

Living up to the league’s ‘greatest moment’ for rest of his life could be a burden – just ask Brendon McCullum and Carlos Brathwaite

Rajasthan Royals' Vaibhav Suryavanshi shakes hands with Gujarat Titans' Sai Sudharsan as he walks back to the pavilion. Reuters

The single greatest moment in the history of the IPL.

That’s what Shaun Pollock, the former South Africa captain-turned-commentator called it, and it is difficult to argue.

A 35-ball-century, the fastest ever by an Indian batter. Against a bowling attack including Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and the great – if out of sync – Rashid Khan.

All aged 14. He’s a child, and will be for some while yet.

Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s scarcely believable ton for Rajasthan Royals against Gujarat Titans on Monday night was utterly sensational.

The only moment from the storied past of the league which could possibly rival it came on its very first night back in 2008. That was three years before Suryavanshi was born.

Back then, Brendon McCullum made the century which announced the league.

It is not an exaggeration to say the New Zealander’s 158 not out back then altered the face of cricket. Immediately, it gave legitimacy to a league which – although everything was heavily loaded in its favour – was not always a guaranteed winner.

The IPL has become one of the most lucrative properties in world sport since then, and McCullum started it.

It was life-changing for the player himself, too. McCullum became a very rich man all at once, and essentially has had jobs for life in the years since.

But for years McCullum regarded it as a millstone. It was the standard to which he was held, when he had other things he wanted to achieve and be recognised for.

He was 26 at the time, so at least had a little bit of experience to draw on in terms of how to handle his sudden change in circumstances.

McCullum’s knock is instructive in many ways. It seems curmudgeonly to point it out, but Suryavanshi is now in precisely that situation.

Carlos Brathwaite is another cautionary tale. The amiable Barbadian gets repulsed by being introduced as “Remember The Name: Carlos Brathwaite” everywhere he goes, solely on the basis of the commentary that accompanied four balls that won the T20 World Cup in 2016.

Within two years of the heroics which inspired West Indies to beat England in that final at Eden Gardens, he had fallen out of love with the game to the point he couldn’t even look at a bat anymore.

“A lot of people play sport in pursuit of making that one amazing thing happen,” Brathwaite later said in an interview with The Guardian.

“Mine came closer to the beginning of my career than the end. I had to come to terms with the fact that I was never going to do anything on the same scale, on that same global stage.”

So extraordinary was Suryavanshi’s feat on Tuesday, it reverberated beyond cricket’s boundaries, and all through wider sport.

The big-hitting was one thing. His age, though, made it a major news story that transcended the game.

Really, we should all enjoy it in isolation, and not allow it to become a millstone. It’s very difficult to believe that is going to happen, though.

Suryavanshi has forever to live up to what he did against Gujarat. He has plenty more dreams to achieve: playing for India, winning major tournaments with them, things like that, you would assume.

After all, he was playing – fairly anonymously, too, even if he had already been signed by Rajasthan by that point – for India’s age group side in the Under 19 Asia Cup in Dubai back in December.

He did not stand out in that, as Bangladesh trampled India in the final, but that is fair enough. He was only 13 at the time, so giving away five years or so to most of his competitors.

He has only played nine matches in the time since, and yet his life has altered completely.

He has had five minutes of fame already, when he probably hopes for a career that will last 20 years or more.

Let’s hope there are many more moments of success to go along with this one.