"Normal Thing For Me": Centurion Vaibhav Suryavanshi On Hitting First-Ball Sixes

The cricket world stands captivated by his audacious stroke-play but for 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, stuff like first-ball sixes is a "normal thing" as he remains unfazed by the grandeur of the stage. Suryavanshi lit up the IPL by becoming the youngest ever centurion in T20 cricket with his 38-ball 101 that was dotted with 11 sixes and seven fours. A staggering 94 of his runs came in boundaries in what was only his third game in the high-stakes tournament.

This was after a whirlwind 34-run knock on IPL debut that came off 20 balls and featured the first-ball six that fixed the spotlight firmly on his cherubic face.

"It was a normal thing for me. I have played Under-19 for India and also at the domestic level, where I have hit first ball sixes. I was not under pressure to play out the first 10 balls. In my mind I was clear that if the ball comes in my radar, I will hit it," Suryavanshi told the IPLT20 website after the win over Gujarat Titans on Monday night here.

"It was not like that I was thinking it's my first game. Yes, there was an international bowler (in front of me) and the stage was big but I was just playing my game," he recalled.

The youngster from Bihar's Samastipur was born a good three years after the IPL got underway so his marauding knock makes him the first player who is younger than the league itself to score a hundred in it.

Suryavanshi expressed gratitude towards his parents -- father Sanjeev and mother Aarti -- for sacrificing their comforts for his growth.

"I am what I am because of my parents. My mother, for the sake of my practice schedule, wakes up at 3 in the morning after going to sleep at 11, sleeping barely three hours.

"She then prepares meals for me. My father left his work to support