Basit Ali compares cricketing culture of Pakistan and India in light of Vaibhav Suryavanshi's IPL debut
Recently, Suryavanshi became the youngest player to make his IPL debut at 14 years and 23 days.
Former Pakistani middle-order batter, Basit Ali, recently opened up on Rajasthan Royals' Vaibhav Suryavanshi's debut in the Indian Premier League.
Basit called out the toxicity he would have had to face had the 14-year-old been dismissed for a low score had he been playing for Pakistan.
"The 14-year-old kid, Vaibhav Suryavanshi. The way he smashed that first ball for six, it's a huge deal. Imagine what would have happened had he gotten out trying to hit the first ball for six? What would people have said? In Pakistan, people would have said, 'throw him out'. But this is how confidence is given, which later pays off," shared Basit on his YouTube channel.
As a part of the same discussion, he also went onto praise the Indian cricketing system for backing their youngsters during their initial days in which they are getting started.
"Look at Abhishek Sharma. Look at Tilak Varma. Look at (Yashasvi) Jaiswal, (Shubman) Gill. They became big players after being given that confidence, that license to express themselves. And if they play with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, of course, they will become great players," added Basit.
Brought in as an Impact Player during his side's run-chase against LSG, Suryavanshi struck the first ball he faced for an exquisite six over covers off the bowling of Shardul Thakur. He went on to hit two more sixes in addition to as many fours before perishing for a lively 34-run knock off only 20 deliveries. RR went onto lose the game narrowly by a couple of runs.
Suryavanshi was acquired for an amount of INR 1.1 crore at the two-day mega auction in Jeddah last year. By that point, he had already represented India Under-19 in the ACC Under-19 Asia Cup. He had also made his debut for Bihar in the 2024-25 editions of the Ranji Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy, respectively.
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