Bihar's Vaibhav Suryavanshi debuts at 12 in Ranji Trophy against Mumbai

Vaibhav Suryavanshi created headlines when he debuted at the age of 12 years and 284 days for Bihar in the Ranji Trophy 2024-24 against Mumbai on Friday, January 5, 2024. He became the fourth youngest Indian ever and the youngest in the 21st century to make their First-Class debut.

However, claims of age fraud appeared on social media site X (formerly called Twitter) against Vaibhav with video footage from last year where he had said he would turn 14 in September 2023.

Vaibhav, whose date of birth certificate was uploaded on X by a senior sports journalist, was born on March 27 2011, according to the certificate issued by the Registrar (Birth and Death) of Gram Panchayat, Tajpur in Samastipur District of Bihar in 2019.

In the video, Vaibhav said, "Abhi mera September 14 saal puerga, September 27 ko", which translates to, "I will turn 14 on September 27.

What is Vaibhav Suryavanshi's  age according to BCCI documents?

Since Vaibhav has represented India's U-19 B team in a quadrangular series involving Under-19 teams of England and Bangladesh in November 2023, his documents would have been verified by BCCI. Therefore, this age fraud claim becomes even more serious. According to ESPNCricinfo and Cricbuzz, two of the top-most cricket websites, Vaibhav is 12 years and 284 days old.

How did Vaibhav Suryavanshi reach the Ranji Trophy?

Vaibhav has been rated a prodigy in the Bihar cricket fraternity after his video of playing amazing shots went viral. He claimed in a video that he had hit 40 centuries and two doubles centuries in all matches that he played till April 2023.

He was selected in the Bihar U-19 team for the 2022-23 Vinoo Mankad Trophy, where he hit 393 runs in five matches at an average of 78.60 and a strike rate of 109.16. He hit a century and three fifties as well.

Based on this performance, Vaibhav made it to the India U-19 B team. But he could not carry the same forward, scoring only 177 runs in six matches with two fifties to his name, thereby missing out on a chance to make it to the India U-19 team for the U-19 World Cup 2024.

It is after this that he made his First-Class debut for Bihar.