Watching Vaibhav Sooryavanshi bat is like watching my son bat: Irfan Pathan

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has opined that he gets reminded of his son while watching young prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi bat. The comment from the former cricketer came shortly after Sooryavanshi ended his IPL 2026 with 776 runs in 16 innings at an average of 48.50. During his last innings against the Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2, he made 96, missing out on a century by just four runs.

Pathan noted the number of beamers that were fired at Sooryavanshi from GT’s bowling attack and said that when he got hit on the head during his yet another sensational innings, his mind took him down the memory lane when Phil Hughes was hit on the head during a Sheffield Shield game, which also became the reason for the latter’s death.

“Watching Vaibhav Sooryavanshi bat is like watching my son bat. Seeing him hit on the head made me worried, and my thoughts went to Philip Hughes,” Pathan said via a post on his official ‘X’ handle.

“Of course if you play at this level, you will be tested. Nothing wrong in that. Teams will plan against him. Sure. I can only wish well for this marvellous young kid,” Pathan added.

The cricketer-turned-commentator further said that the situation of bowling bodyline deliveries at the 15-year-old has created a situation that clearly does not sit well with him, sending out a clear message in the public.

Speaking more about Sooryavanshi, he is also the current holder of the IPL Orange Cap, and in case no one from RCB or GT overtakes him, he will be ending the season with the most runs in 2026, also becoming the youngest to win the award. In just his second IPL season, Sooryavanshi also breached past the 1000-run mark in his IPL career, becoming the fastest to do so in terms of balls taken, while being joint-second-fastest as per innings taken (23).