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By:

Waleed Hussain

4 March 2025 at 2:34:30 pm

The Taming of the Teen Tornado

In the high-octane circus of the Indian Premier League, few phenomena have exploded onto the scene quite like Vaibhav Suryavanshi. The Bihar prodigy, still a teenager at 15, burst into global consciousness in IPL 2025 as the youngest debutant and centurion in T20 history. His 101 off 38 balls against Gujarat Titans wasn’t just a knock; it was a declaration of intent from a player who treats boundaries as birthrights and bowlers as mere target practice. With a career strike rate hovering...

The Taming of the Teen Tornado

In the high-octane circus of the Indian Premier League, few phenomena have exploded onto the scene quite like Vaibhav Suryavanshi. The Bihar prodigy, still a teenager at 15, burst into global consciousness in IPL 2025 as the youngest debutant and centurion in T20 history. His 101 off 38 balls against Gujarat Titans wasn’t just a knock; it was a declaration of intent from a player who treats boundaries as birthrights and bowlers as mere target practice. With a career strike rate hovering around 225 across 17 matches and a penchant for clearing ropes with frightening regularity—61 sixes already—Suryavanshi represented the ultimate nightmare for opposition captains. Yet, as IPL 2026 unfolds, a fascinating trend has emerged: teams appear to have devised blueprints to neutralize him before he enters that devastating “out of control” mode. This isn’t about diminishing his talent. Suryavanshi remains a generational prospect, capable of single-handedly tilting games. But cricket at the elite level is a game of adaptations, and the league’s collective brain trust has spent the off-season and early 2026 matches poring over footage, identifying triggers, and deploying targeted strategies. The result? More frequent low scores, golden ducks, and frustrated walks back to the pavilion, even as his overall numbers stay imposing. The primary weapon has been early aggression against his powerplay instincts. Suryavanshi is an opener who thrives on momentum, often launching into sixes from ball one. Captains have responded by setting aggressive fields and using pace variations immediately. Deepak Chahar’s masterclass in 2025, where he dismissed the youngster for a duck with a clever plan, highlighted the value of swing and seam movement early on. By denying width and tempting him with balls that move away or hold the line, bowlers force Suryavanshi to manufacture shots, disrupting his timing. In one notable 2026 outing against Lucknow Super Giants, he managed just 8 off 11, mistiming a length ball outside off after the top order collapsed. Mohsin Khan’s dismissal of him—inducing a toe-ender to cover—showcased how disciplined lines can exploit slight technical lapses when the youngster tries to force the pace. Spin has emerged as another potent tool. While Suryavanshi’s hand-eye coordination makes him dangerous against slower balls, teams are using mystery spinners and left-arm orthodox options to vary trajectories and exploit any impatience. His dot-ball percentage, though low, reveals moments where he hunts boundaries excessively. Bowlers who can land the ball in the “corridor of uncertainty” or use the carrom ball effectively have succeeded in building pressure, forcing errors. Praful Hinge’s golden duck dismissal in 2026 offered a “secret recipe” that others are emulating: tight channels combined with clever changes in pace. Data analytics and opposition scouting have played a silent but decisive role. Teams now track Suryavanshi’s triggers—his front-foot dominance against pace, preference for leg-side heaves when set, and occasional vulnerability to short balls if the seam position is right. By preparing specific match-ups (right-arm seamers angling across him, or spinners from over the wicket targeting leg stump), captains are minimizing the window for him to settle. This proactive approach contrasts with the reactive panic of 2025, when many teams simply fed him width and watched the ball sail into the stands. Critics might argue this “taming” reflects negatively on the bowler-friendly conditions or defensive captaincy. But that’s missing the point. IPL cricket evolves rapidly, and Suryavanshi’s emergence has accelerated that evolution. Young talents force the ecosystem to innovate. Remember how early Virat Kohli or AB de Villiers prompted fielding restrictions and bowling tweaks? Suryavanshi is in that league. His explosive starts demand perfection from the outset; one loose over, and the game can slip away. Teams that execute plans—short spells of high-intensity bowling, smart rotations, and mental warfare—have found success in curtailing him to 20-30 ball cameos rather than match-defining marathons. This cat-and-mouse dynamic benefits Indian cricket immensely. For Suryavanshi, these challenges are crucibles for growth. Already battle-hardened from U19 successes and Ranji exposure at an absurdly young age, he is learning to rotate strike, play percentage cricket when needed, and temper his aggression without losing intent. His emotional reactions to dismissals—tears on debut, visible frustration—reveal a fierce competitor who hates failure. That fire, channeled correctly, will make him unstoppable. Coaches like Rahul Dravid at Rajasthan Royals are undoubtedly working on mindset and technique to counter these plans. For franchises, the lesson is clear: superstar management requires homework. Blindly respecting reputations leads to carnage; targeted execution yields results. We’ve seen this with other phenoms—teams eventually found ways to quiet even the most destructive hitters through variations, intelligence, and execution. Suryavanshi’s case proves no one is immune, no matter how prodigious. Yet, one senses this is temporary. The teenager’s talent is raw and boundless. As he decodes these strategies, his game will expand—perhaps better leaving balls in the channel, improved footwork against spin, or devastating counters to short-pitched stuff. By IPL 2027 or beyond, he might laugh at these early “solutions.” In the end, the IPL’s beauty lies in this relentless arms race. Teams have indeed figured out ways to dismiss Vaibhav Suryavanshi before he runs amok—for now. It forces excellence from everyone: bowlers must be precise, captains astute, and the batter must evolve. Cricket wins. Fans win. And a 15-year-old superstar, tempered by these battles, will emerge even more formidable. The tornado hasn’t been stopped; it’s merely being studied so the next gust can be even more thrilling. (The writer is a senior journalist based in Mumbai. Views personal.)

‘How there was no blood if she fell from 14th floor?’

Updated: Mar 21, 2025

Disha Salian’s father’s allegations against Aaditya Thackeray hits up politics

Disha Salian

Mumbai: Satish Salian, the father of a celebrity manager Disha Salian, has raised several questions regarding her suspicious death in his petition to the Bombay High Court.


“Overall, looking at the entire investigation, I think it is murder,” Salian told Republic TV. “Because a person's body falls from the 14th floor, but still there is not a single injury visible on that person's body. There is no injury anywhere on the head, so how can this happen? We need to think about this. Even if a body falls from the 14th floor, how can that body remain clean?"


Salian produced photographs and videos of Disha’s dead body for the first time since her death on June 8, 2020. Her head and face are seen clean without any injury mark. In their investigation, the Mumbai Police had concluded that she had jumped from her 14th floor apartment in Malad.


Salian said, “There was no pressure on me from anyone. However, I was convinced that way. Also, I had faith that Disha’s friends who were present at the party on that night would never lie about what happened. Also, the police had told us at that time that it was a suicide. We had trusted the police then.”


He said then Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar had come to his house and convinced him that Disha had ended her life.


Salian’s lawyer Nilesh Ojha said from the first days of the incident, Satish Salian had the same question that not a single drop of blood was seen after falling from the 14th floor. Also, not a single drop of blood was found on the clothes. “The most important thing is that when Disha Salian's body was handed over to her family, there was no injury on her body. Then how come there was no injury after falling from the floor of the building? This is the question,” said Ojha.


Ojha, told ANI, “During the murder, Uddhav Thackeray's government was there (in Maharashtra), and the accused was his son Aaditya Thackeray. The corrupt police officials tried to cover up the case. After 2.5 years, Shinde's government came, and Fadnavis was the Home Minister. This matter has not come all of a sudden.”


He further added, “On 12th January 2024, a written complaint was filed accusing Aaditya Thackeray, Sooraj Pancholi and others of gang rape. FIR was not registered for more than one year. The affidavit filed by Aaditya Thackeray stated lies that he was given a clean chit by the CBI in the case. There is also proof that Anil Deshmukh didn't want any action (on Aaditya Thackeray).”


As this happened, Ojha said that Disha's father approached him to file the petition. "Nothing happened, but the conversations around it made Disha Salian's father realise that he had been lied to, and he came to us. After that, his petition was drafted and filed," he said.


Demanding that the police officials who failed to register an FIR be penalised, Ojha said that action must also be taken against the SIT official as per the Supreme Court's guidelines on rape and murder cases. Otherwise, the concerned police officials must be penalised as per the relevant sections of IPC. In this case, they have failed to register a case in over a year. This is a serious matter, and action must be taken against the SIT official, he said.


"The affidavit filed by Aaditya Thackeray stated lies that he was given a clean chit by the CBI in the Disha Salian case...Anil Deshmukh also didn't want any action (on Aaditya Thackeray)," Ojha added.


Reacting to Salian's plea, Kishori Pednekar called it a conspiracy. “Someone is behind it, and there is a conspiracy. How come this matter has come under the spotlight after more than four years? The CID conducted an enquiry, there is already an SIT (formed to probe the matter),” Pednekar told PTI.


“I was surprised how come this (Salian) issue was not raised in the last 2-3 sessions. There is nothing new in it as this issue has been raised repeatedly in the House in the past. There is no substance in this issue. But if politics is being done in such a bad way then it will hurt everyone. I want to tell these people that if you want to turn falsehoods into truth, then it will also boomerang on you.”

Uddhav Thackeray, Chief, Shiv Sena (UBT)


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