Robin Uthappa says Vaibhav Sooryavanshi shares one rare batting quality with Don Bradman

Robin Uthappa says Vaibhav Sooryavanshi shares one rare batting quality with Don Bradman originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Robin Uthappa likened Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's technique to Sir Donald Bradman's.
• He highlighted the teenager's rare ability to avoid getting out leg before wicket (LBW).
• Uthappa urged patience, saying bowlers are yet to work out the 15-year-old.

Robin Uthappa says Vaibhav Sooryavanshi shares one batting quality with Don Bradman

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's meteoric rise shows no sign of slowing, and the superlatives are now reaching the very top of cricket's pantheon. The latest comparison, drawn by former India batter Robin Uthappa, places the 15-year-old alongside the most statistically dominant figure the sport has ever produced.

Fresh off a Player of the Series award against Zimbabwe, where he top-scored with 151 runs in three matches, Sooryavanshi has reignited the conversation about his ceiling. Uthappa, reflecting on that surge, identified a specific technical trait that reminded him of the incomparable Australian.

The comparison came with a careful caveat rather than reckless hype. Uthappa stressed it remains far too early to draw firm conclusions, noting that opposition bowlers are only beginning to grapple with the challenge the left-hander poses.

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The Bradman parallel explained

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Uthappa framed his assessment around the way bowlers historically responded to genius. He observed that "when Bradman was batting the way he did, what they resorted to was bodyline", suggesting attacks are similarly searching for an answer to Sooryavanshi.

The technical link he drew centred on one particular strength. Uthappa said the teenager "has a similar technique to Bradman, where he almost never got out LBW", pinpointing an ability to keep his stumps protected that sets him apart from most young batters.

He also urged supporters to withhold judgement until the youngster is properly tested. Uthappa reasoned that "we haven't really seen the bowlers respond to what Vaibhav is doing", adding that people were still "coming to terms with the way he's batting" before any lasting verdict could be reached.

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The outlier question

For Uthappa, the real measure of Sooryavanshi's greatness will be longevity paired with numbers. He argued that if the youngster "can maintain an average in the high 40s with his strike rate, he could be considered an outlier", framing sustained output as the true marker of a special career.

He even turned the lens back on Bradman's own legend, wondering aloud how the record might read under different circumstances. Uthappa mused whether, had the Second World War "not happened and Bradman had played 30 Tests more", the Australian would still have averaged in excess of 99.

The context sharpens why the remark carries weight. Bradman's mark of 6,996 runs at 99.94 across 52 Tests has stood untouched for generations, and invoking it in the same breath as a teenager is a considerable statement, however heavily hedged.

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A comparison to admire, not yet to trust

There is a sensible tension running through Uthappa's analysis that deserves credit. He resists the temptation to crown Sooryavanshi outright, tethering the Bradman reference to a single technical trait rather than an overall equivalence, which is the responsible way to handle a 15-year-old carrying such a burden of expectation.

The danger, of course, is that the comparison itself becomes the story regardless of the qualifiers. Sooryavanshi's numbers against Zimbabwe were built on modest bowling, and the leap from promising teenager to statistical outlier is one almost nobody completes, which is precisely why patience, as Uthappa himself counsels, remains the wisest response.

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