Vaibhav Suryavanshi becomes youngest T20 captain in history, leading Bihar team

Young batsman Vaibha Suryavanshi has taken on significant responsibility by being appointed as the captain of the starting Bihar team. He will lead the team for the first time, tasked with guiding the 17-member squad in the initial two matches of the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament, which begins on November 14th. Suraj Kashyap has been named as the vice-captain.

This was announced by the Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) on Friday. Bihar's first match is scheduled for November 14th against Saurashtra in Indore.

The Bihar team is placed in Group B of the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament. This group also includes teams from Delhi, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Railway, Saurashtra, and Tamil Nadu.

Bihar will commence its tournament journey with a game against Saurashtra, where Vaibha Suryavanshi will lead the team in the first two matches.

Vaibha Suryavanshi plays for 'Rajasthan Royals' in the IPL. He demonstrated outstanding performance in IPL 2026, becoming the tournament's top scorer. He amassed 776 runs across 16 innings, with an average strike rate exceeding 237.

He has also played for the Indian T20 International squad. To date, he has featured in 10 T20 International matches.

In the U-19 World Cup final, Vaibha delivered a brilliant performance against England, scoring 175 runs off 80 balls. This contributed to India winning the final match by a margin of 100 runs.

Recently, Vaibha also showed excellent form in the third T20 International match against New Zealand, scoring 45 runs off 19 balls. In partnership with Abhishek Sharma, he helped accumulate 133 runs.

The Chairman of the Bihar Cricket Association, Harsh Vardhan, noted that receiving the captaincy role will give Vaibha an opportunity to develop as a leader. He stated: 'Vaibha has shown magnificent talent, confidence, and understanding at an early age. We hope that under his leadership, the team will perform well with discipline.'

The 17-member Bihar squad includes Vaibha Suryavanshi (Captain), Alok Kumar, Ayush Loharuka (Wicketkeeper), Altamash Ashraf, Parm Kumar Singh, Anmol Kumar (Wicketkeeper), Ritwik Raj, Suraj Kashyap (Vice-Captain), Maink Kumar, Raghavendra Pratap, Aashish Kumar, Vasudev Pratap Singh, Mohammed Izhar, Amod Yadav, Prashant Singh, Nawaz Khan, and Himanshu Singh. The reserve list comprises Bipin Saurabh, Suman Kumar, Akash Raj, Khalid Alam, Bhaskar Dubey, Kumar Rajnish, Suikesh, Abidjit Saket, Yashwish Rishabh, Lakhan Raja, Pawan Kumar, Amit Chaudhary, Piyush Singh, Bhanu Kumar, Lokesh Babulal Kumar, and Prashant Srivastava.

The availability of Mangal Maur and Shakib Hussain will be determined following medical examinations after Bihar's first two matches.

In the first day match between India and New Zealand, held at Eden Park stadium in Auckland, the Indian batsmen demonstrated an impressive performance. Before the powerful displays by the Indian players, the New Zealand team was struggling, losing 9 wickets for 146 runs.

At this moment, fast bowler Blair Tickner came onto the field to bat at number 11 and created a real storm. Tickner launched a lightning attack, scoring 34 runs with one four and four sixes in just 23 balls, thereby setting a major world record in ODI cricket format.

During this aggressive innings, Blair Tickner hit three sixes in the last over bowled by Arsh Deep Singh. Because of this, he became the third player in ODI history to hit four sixes in a single innings while batting at number 11. Before him, this feat was achieved only by Mohammad Amir of Pakistan (four sixes against England in 2016) and Naseem Shah of New Zealand (four sixes against New Zealand in 2025).

Tickner's achievement broke the 23-year record set by legendary fast bowler Shane Bond. Bond hit three sixes against India in Auckland on January 11, 2003. Now, after 23 years, Blair Tickner has created new history by hitting four sixes. This elite group also includes Chris Priingle (2 sixes against West Indies in 1994) and Trent Boult (2 sixes against Sri Lanka in 2015).

Thanks to this counter-attacking innings, the New Zealand team managed to achieve a competitive total of 185 runs in 40.2 overs. In the New Zealand team, Tim Seifert scored 38 runs, and Glenn Phillips scored 30 runs. For India, Arsh Deep Singh took 4 wickets, Gurnoor Barar took 3 wickets, and Anshul Kamboj took 2 wickets.