Renowned coach Paddy Upton reckons the biggest challenge for young Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is dealing with failures. Sooryavanshi has taken the cricket world by storm with his blistering batting and has shown the skills to go a long way in his career.
The prodigy batter ended the IPL 2026 season with 776 runs in 16 matches at an average of 48.50 and a blistering strike rate of 237.30. He ended as the leading run-getter in the tournament and thus bagged the Orange Cap. Along with it, he was awarded the MVP of the tournament, Super Striker of the Season, Emerging Player of the season, and also bagged the award for the most sixes (72) in the season.
Thus, he earned his maiden call-up for Ireland and England, where India would play two and five T20Is respectively.
However, Sooryavanshi has managed 117 in four matches for India A in the ongoing tri-series against Sri Lanka A and Afghanistan A at an average of 29.25. The youngster has failed to convert his starts in the series and has failed to live up to the lofty expectations in four games.
“For me, in terms of his on-field performance, as was repeatedly demonstrated in the IPL, he’s got the right mindset to deliver in the big moments. That’s pretty clear,” Upton told The Hindu.
“Nobody continues on a hot run of form,” Upton said. “He’s had a seriously hot run in the IPL. It’s almost impossible to expect that to continue. I would prepare him for a few low scores, some failures and some results not going his way. That’s absolutely normal and to be expected.”
Upton said how Sooryavanshi manages himself around the failure, would be crucial in his career.
“The failure is not going to be the problem,” Upton said. “How does he manage himself around the failure? How does he manage himself around all the criticism and noise that are going to come when he inevitably has a poor run of form?”
“His single biggest challenge, I believe, is how he manages the external noise away from the playing arena,” he said. “Some of the mentally strongest athletes in the world still get derailed by external expectations, judgment, and pressure.”
Sooryavanshi was also involved in an altercation with Sri Lankan A players and was fined 50% of his match fee. Furthermore, he was handed two demerit points.
