Chris Gayle’s 30-ball IPL hundred is the only innings that comes close to Suryavanshi’s knock.

Less than a year after smashing a 58-ball century against Australia’s under-19s side - as a 13-year-old - Suryavanshi was the subject of a bidding war in this year’s IPL.

His father was thrilled, given he sold the family’s farm to fund his son’s cricket dream.

Suryavanshi made scores of 34 and 16 in his first two IPL matches - he hit his first ball on debut for six - before his latest hundred that is arguably the greatest in the tournament’s history.

“I am feeling very good,” Suryavanshi said after the match. “Scoring my first hundred in the IPL, and that too in just my third innings, feels special. All the practice that I have put in over the last four to five months has finally paid off.

“It feels like a dream to score a century in the IPL. Like I said, I have worked hard in the last few months, and it has all come together beautifully.”

Suryavanshi is already being labelled the IPL’s ‘Boss Baby’, having been born in the same year India won the 2011 World Cup.

However, questions have already been raised over the legitimacy of Suryavanshi’s age.

His birthday is listed as March 27, 2011, but has said once in an interview he would turn 14 on September 23, 2023. That would make him 15 years, 7 months, and 6 days old.

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Yashasvi Jaiswal, who featured in a 166-run opening partnership with Suryavanshi, said: “Incredible innings, one of the best I’ve seen. Hope he’ll keep doing it for us for a long time. He was incredible today.

“He just played amazing shots. He works hard in the nets, we can see that. He has the game, he has the temperament and mentality.”

Could the secret lie in Suryavanshi’s new diet?

According to an interview with Suryavanshi’s coach, Manish Ojha, giving up pizza and mutton might have helped his game.

“He is just fond of chicken and mutton,” Ojha told the Times of India. “He is a kid, so he used to love pizza a lot. But he doesn’t eat it any more.

“When we used to give him mutton, no matter how much we gave, he would finish all of it. That’s why he looks a bit chubby.”

with AP