Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hopes to score a double century in T20 cricket. When a 15-year-old says that, he would normally invite indulgent looks and tolerant smiles if not outright derision. But not this 15-year-old. If he bats through 20 overs, it might even come easily. Twice this season he has made a fifty in 15 balls, and against Sunrisers Hyderabad he reached a century in 36 balls. Now extrapolate.

Ironically, six-hitters like him (he already has 53 and at least one match remaining to overtake Chris Gayle’s IPL record of 59) might have tilted the balance between bat and ball too much in one direction to the detriment of the format. Already this season there has been a record 1349 sixes (as at the end of the league phase), and diminishing marginal utility has kicked in.

Sooryavanshi was born after the birth of the IPL, and so perhaps sees nothing extraordinary about the glut of sixes in a format that is about a glut of sixes. What makes him special is what has made all the best batters special — the ability to pick length early. Footwork, balance, bat speed, fitness, temperament are all secondary. Picking length is fundamental. Everything begins there.

If you pick length late, batting becomes all about survival. Batters don’t have the time to work everything out after the ball pitches. The decision about what to do looks spontaneous because batters are reading the cues from the bowler from wrist position to release point to seam angle and trajectory to pace through the air. The best look unhurried because they have decoded everything and the body has got into position early. Timing improves not because the hands are faster, but because preparation is.

Different formats magnify this skill in different ways. In Test cricket, early length recognition allows patience and control. In T20s, it enables anticipation and innovation: ramp shots, pick-up pulls, and premeditated movement all depend on reading length almost instantaneously. The earlier you know where the ball will land, the more options you have.

In many ways, batting is a race against uncertainty. The bowler’s job is to delay the batter’s recognition for as long as possible. The batter’s job is to solve the puzzle early enough so he can stay balanced and decisive.

Impressive temperament

Even in a tournament filled with world-class batters, if Sooryavanshi stands out, it has to do as much with his age and confidence as with his ability to meet the ball at any point in its bounce. There is too his impressive temperament. Former England captain Michael Vaughan has pointed out that Sooryavanshi drives the future of T20 cricket. His strike rate, 232, shows other openers the path that can be taken. He has stretched the limits of the possible.

Is he the finest 15-year-old to play cricket? Sachin Tendulkar was 16 when he hit Abdul Qadir for 27 runs in an over, with four sixes. That was in an exhibition game following a rain washout, but had he played T20 as a teenager, there’s no telling what records he might have set. He too had the ability to pick length early and strike with rare power.

It can be assumed with a degree of confidence that Sooryavanshi will be in the Indian team for the white ball tour of England in July. The bowling he has faced in the IPL is of a superior quality and has greater range than anything a single country can muster.

What will be interesting, and really get the national debate going is the possibility of Sooryavanshi making an early entry into Test cricket. There is a vast gap between T20 cricket and Tests. What Sooryavanshi has in is favour is the ability to read length early. But what of his defence? A batter with a sound defence can make the shift to limited-over formats more easily than a limited-over player can switch to five-day Tests. Suryakumar Yadav, world-class batter in T20 for instance, has managed just one Test, and might be a cautionary tale.

Sooryavanshi is in India A teams (red ball) where his progress will be keenly monitored. Meanwhile let us enjoy the sight of a 15-year-old carrying an IPL team on his shoulders. A boy among adults who might be destiny’s child.