Patna: Vaibhav Suryavanshi, a 14-year-old cricketer from Bihar who has rewritten several batting records this season, will be honoured by President Droupadi Murmu on Friday after being selected for the Prime Minister’s National Children’s Award. The ceremony will be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, after which the teenager is also scheduled to meet the prime minister, Narendra Modi.
Suryavanshi travelled to Delhi on Wednesday to attend the awards ceremony and will miss Bihar’s second Vijay Hazare Trophy Plate Group match against Manipur. He had earlier drawn national attention with a record-breaking performance against Arunachal Pradesh in the tournament.
During that match, Suryavanshi became the youngest player in the world to score a century in List A cricket, reaching the milestone in just 36 balls. In the process, he broke a 39-year-old record previously held by Pakistan’s Zahoor Elahi. The Bihar vice-captain went on to score 190 runs off 84 deliveries, striking 16 fours and 15 sixes.
He also set a new benchmark for the fastest 150 in List A cricket, surpassing previous records held by South Africa’s AB de Villiers and England’s Jos Buttler.
The same match saw Bihar captain Sakibul Gani claim the record for the fastest century in Indian List A cricket, scoring 100 runs off 32 balls. He now tops the list, followed by Ishan Kishan, who scored a 33-ball century for Jharkhand against Karnataka. Anmolpreet Singh, who hit a 35-ball hundred for Punjab against Arunachal Pradesh in 2024, is next, with Suryavanshi joining the elite group with his 36-ball century. Other players on the list include Yusuf Pathan (40 balls, 2010), Urvil Patel (41 balls, 2023) and Abhishek Sharma (42 balls, 2021).
List A cricket refers to limited-overs matches played in the one-day format, including both international and domestic competitions. In India, all Vijay Hazare Trophy matches are categorised as domestic List A games.
A total of 20 children will receive the Prime Minister’s National Children’s Award this year. Instituted in 1996, the award is administered by the Ministry of Women and Child Development and recognises Indian citizens aged between five and 18 for exceptional achievements. Each recipient is awarded a medal, a certificate and a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh.
