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'How sustainable is it?': Matthew Hayden on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's power-hitting, compares teen to Shubman Gill originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Australia legend Matthew Hayden questions Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's long-term sustainability and compared to Shubman Gill's consistency.
- Former opener backs finding one's own game rather than copying any player.
- Sooryavanshi is still awaiting a senior India debut despite a stunning IPL 2026 campaign.
Matthew Hayden raises question over whether Vaibhav Sooryavanshi can sustain power-hitting style
Former Australia opener and Gujarat Titans batting coach Matthew Hayden has raised questions about whether Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's brand of explosive power-hitting can hold up over a sustained period.
Sooryavanshi took the IPL 2026 by storm and scored 776 runs at a strike rate of 237. He also broke Chris Gayle's longstanding sixes record as he smashed 77 maximums during the course of the tournament.
However, Hayden's central point goes beyond any individual innings or tournament. He believes that the real test for any young player who draws attention through a dazzling body of early work is whether that approach can be maintained across a long career under the scrutiny and pressure that come with sustained international exposure.
Speaking to PTI, he said: "The challenge, I guess, for any youngster that's watching this video, uh, and following the profile of a young player like a Sooryavanshi, is how is that sustainable over a long period of time?"
Matthew Hayden compares Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Shubman Gill's approach
While reflecting on the contrasting personalities of Gill and Sooryavanshi, Hayden was clear that both styles can co-exist in modern T20 cricket and have already done so.
He held Gill up as the reference point, noting that, despite also being young, Gill has already answered those questions.
The former Australian opener was equally firm on the coaching philosophy he believes in, pushing back against the idea of asking any young cricketer to model themselves on someone else.
"Very much support the philosophy, coaching philosophy of finding one's best inner warrior," he said.
"You know, Sooryavanshi, as you rightly pointed out to Shubman Gill, you know, they, they're very distinctive characters and distinctive personalities with distinctive upbringings, uh, regional differences. That's the beauty of our game because it's a skill-based game, and you arrive at the platform with very different nuances in technical capacity."
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[BCCI/Creimas]
Sooryavanshi drew on his own experience of growing up admiring Brian Lara without ever trying to become Lara, saying his career was built on developing instincts and a game that was entirely his own.
"I, for example, grew up loving watching Brian Lara. But am I Brian Lara? No, I'm not," he argued.
"Am I West Indian? No. I grew up in a very small village in, in regional country Australia in Queensland, where sport was a primary focus. I lived on a 10-acre house block, and I developed a game which arguably at the time was, was the best in the world, based on my own instincts, and that's a great part about sport. And that's across codes."
Hayden is right to ask the question, but let time decide Sooryavanshi's graph
Hayden's sustainability argument is worth taking seriously, but it also needs reconsideration given the circumstances.
Every player who has ever burst onto the scene with an outrageous strike rate and aggressive instincts has faced this question, and many have found ways to evolve their game without losing what made them special.
Sooryavanshi is 15. He doesn't need to have all the answers right now. What he has already shown, in domestic cricket and the IPL, suggests the raw material is extraordinary.
Hayden is right that Gill offers a more proven template at the international level, but comparing a teenager with limited senior exposure to an established international player is slightly unfair.
Give Sooryavanshi his debut, let him face real pressure, and then the sustainability question becomes worth asking properly.
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