Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement: India’s T20 World Cup–winning cricketer Sanju Samson recently recounted a humorous incident from the Rajasthan Royals camp involving former head coach Rahul Dravid and 14-year-old batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Samson recalled Dravid’s interaction with the youngster ahead of his Indian Premier League debut last season and revealed the amusing response Sooryavanshi gave when asked about his approach going into his first match.
Sooryavanshi went on to impress in his debut season, scoring 252 runs in seven matches for Rajasthan Royals at an impressive strike rate of 206.56. His standout performance came against the Gujarat Titans, where he produced a sensational innings of 101 off 38 balls, reaching his century in just 35 deliveries.
Speaking at the BCCI Annual Awards, Sooryavanshi was asked whether he remembered his first conversation with Dravid and then-captain Samson prior to making his IPL debut.
Just as Sooryavanshi began speaking, Samson interrupted and revealed exactly how the conversation went between Dravid and Sooryavanshi as he said, “I was actually in a meeting at the time. Rahul Sir called him into the room and told me, 'Sanju, we need to talk to him. He's just a young kid; we need to guide him on how to go about things.' So Rahul Sir asked him, 'Vaibhav, what's the plan?' Vaibhav replied, 'Kuch nahi sir, hum to khelenge. ( (Nothing special, Sir. I’ll just play). Then he asked ‘What is your game plan?’ and Vaibhav was like ‘Agar hume agar pehla mila to hum pehla hi uda denge (If I get the first ball, I'm just going to smash it), and I was like yeh alag video game hi khel raha hai (He is playing a completely different video game).”
Samson's distinctive take on Sooryavanshi caused a burst of laughter in the hall, even making the typically reserved Dravid lose control.
Just as Sooryavanshi began speaking, Samson interrupted and revealed exactly how the conversation went between Dravid and Sooryavanshi as he said, “I was actually in a meeting at the time. Rahul Sir called him into the room and told me, 'Sanju, we need to talk to him. He's just a young kid; we need to guide him on how to go about things.' So Rahul Sir asked him, 'Vaibhav, what's the plan?' Vaibhav replied, 'Kuch nahi sir, hum to khelenge. ( (Nothing special, Sir. I’ll just play). Then he asked ‘What is your game plan?’ and Vaibhav was like ‘Agar hume agar pehla mila to hum pehla hi uda denge (If I get the first ball, I'm just going to smash it), and I was like yeh alag video game hi khel raha hai (He is playing a completely different video game).”
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The centre of attraction were former India cricketer and head coach Rahul Dravid, 1983 World Cup winner and former BCCI president Roger Binny, and former India captain Mithali Raj as the three veterans were honoured with the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award.