Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is the new Indian craze. Everyone wants to make their child into the next Vaibhav, and that’s where the concern lies. We will go badly wrong. Vaibhav is a generational talent and it can’t be that everyone just forces their children to be the next Vaibhav. And this argument about what you were doing when 15 is a complete non-starter. Every child growing up is an individual and most that age would be studying. And let me say, that’s totally fine. If all of a sudden, parents start waking up their child up at 2 am and start throwing 500 balls to them hoping that he or she will be the next Vaibhav or the next Shafali Verma, it is never going to happen.
I had a fascinating conversation with Rajkumar Sharma last week. Rajkumar ji knows a thing or two about coaching and narrated a fascinating incident. “I was contacted by this parent a few days back and he said his son is 4 years old,” he told me. “I told him he is much too young and he should check back in 3 years or so. The father said, but if he doesn’t start this early, he wouldn’t be able to become the next Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. I was shocked and realised this is becoming a real problem in India.”
Vaibhav is indeed the next big star. He could well set the cricket world on fire. But that doesn’t mean he is the role model for every child to emulate or aspire to. He is an aberration and it is absolutely imperative that we recognise and accept it.
What worries me when I think of the bigger picture is the impact Vaibhav’s success can have on children growing up in a social media age. That’s where the difference is with Sachin Tendulkar. When Sachin was coming up through the ranks, all that there was for people to consume was conventional media. His every movement wasn’t monitored or reported on. Vaibhav, however, is different. Him walking out of the Colombo airport is news. Him playing in the nets is a headline. Him styling his hair will be followed and emulated. Everything Vaibhav will be consumed and that’s where the pressure will start. Every child will be asked to be the next Vaibhav. The next goldmine, for if you play the IPL, you stand to make crores.
It is time to take a step back and think what we are getting into. This is a vicious cycle and we could possibly lose many thousand kids at the altar of this high-pressure scenario. Out of a million kids, one will be Vaibhav. No more. The 99.99 per cent who can’t be him could go into depression and lose their childhoods. It will then be on the parents to make do with what they have and get these children back to normal life. So while we should indeed celebrate Vaibhav, let us also take a pause and think if he should be the index going forward. My humble plea is he should not. He is a freak and it is time we accept it and move on.
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