‘Pehle hi uda denge!’, Samson reveals Sooryavanshi’s IPL debut game-plan:Suryakumar would ‘love to replay 2023 final and win it’

Several interesting anecdotes were staged by the cricket stars at the BCCI Naman awards on Sunday, 15 March. The annual award ceremony was held on Sunday, 15 March in New Zealand and it celebrated achievements in Indian cricket. In one of the segments in the award show, Sanju Samson revealed young Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s game plan on his IPL debut. The left-hander has witnessed a meteoric rise in stature since last year and most recently, he played a crucial role in India winning the U-19 World Cup title. Sanju Samson narrates Sooryavanshi’s response when asked about game-plan Hardik Pandya, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, and Vaibhav Suryavanshi were present on stage at the ceremony. During the conversation, Samson revealed that before his debut for Rajasthan Royals, head coach Rahul Dravid had asked Vaibhav about his game plan. Samson said that Dravid asked Vaibhav, “What is your game plan?” To this, Vaibhav replied, “Aisa kuch nahi hai sir, hum toh khelenge.” (There’s nothing as such, I’ll just play.) “Agar hume pehla mila toh hum pehla hi uda denge!” (If I take strike, I will hit it for a six). And Sooryavanshi did exactly that. The 14-year-old smashed his first ball for a six over cover, with Shardul Thakur being the bowler. Last season, he became the youngest centurion in IPL history when he hit a 38-ball 101 against Gujarat Titans. Samson joked and said that it was as if Vaibhav was playing a video game. Sooryavanshi also said that his target was to help Rajasthan Royals win the IPL. Vaibhav wants to break Chris Gayle’s record During the event, Vaibhav Suryavanshi also spoke about his cricketing dreams. He said that he wants to break Chris Gayle’s record of 175 runs in T20 cricket. Vaibhav said that he had watched the match between the Pune Supergiants and the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the stadium in 2017. He also mentioned his favourite film’s name as Dhurandhar. India will win more World Cups, says Sanju Samson Sanju Samson, the hero of the T20 World Cup 2026 win, expressed confidence in the team winning more silverware in the future. Samson said that there is a large number of talented players in the country, so India has the ability to win major tournaments repeatedly in the future. Samson scored 321 runs in 5 matches in T20 World Cup 2026. He struck an unbeaten 97 against West Indies in a virtual quarterfinal and 89-run knocks against England and New Zealand, in the semifinal and final, respectively. Deservedly, he was named Player of the Tournament. Also read: ‘No country is bigger than ICC’: Jay Shah breaks silence on Pakistan, Bangladesh’s T20 WC boycott saga Suryakumar Yadav wants to replay 2023 ODI WC final T20 team captain Suryakumar Yadav said that if he gets a chance to play one match again, it would be the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup. He said that he would like to play and win that match, which was played in Ahmedabad, again. According to Suryakumar, winning the 2024 T20 World Cup proved to be a big start for Indian cricket. After this, India won several ICC titles like the 2025 Champions Trophy, Women’s ODI World Cup, and Under-19 World Cup. India’s ODI captain Shubman Gill has said that winning the 2027 ODI World Cup is the team’s biggest goal. He said that India came very close to the title in the 2023 World Cup, so the effort to win the trophy next time will be even stronger. Dravid gets Lifetime Achievement Award Former captain Rahul Dravid was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award. During this, he said that the potential of Indian cricket is now clearly visible in the form of results on the field. He said that with the support of players, coaches, a strong domestic structure, and fans, Indian cricket is continuously moving forward. Shubman Gill rewarded for brilliant year Shubman Gill had a brilliant performance in 2025. In the five-match Test series during the England tour, he scored 754 runs in 10 innings. During this period, his average was 75.40, and he scored four centuries. Gill also played a crucial role in India’s Champions Trophy win. In the first match of the tournament, he scored an unbeaten 101 against Bangladesh, amassing a total of 188 runs in the tournament. Smriti Mandhana named Cricketer of the Year Smriti Mandhana scored 1703 international runs in 2025. Of these, 1362 runs came in ODIs, which is the most by any female cricketer in a single year. She also became the first batter to score 1000 runs in a calendar year in women’s ODI cricket. In the Women’s World Cup, she scored 434 runs in nine matches and played a crucial role in India’s title victory. India eye 2028 Olympic gold Suryakumar said that India will also try to win a gold medal in cricket at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The T20 World Cup will also be played in the same year. He said that if the team can win two consecutive T20 World Cups, then why shouldn’t they try to win the third title as well. Hardik and coach’s trust is Important, says Surya Suryakumar said that former coach Rahul Dravid and current coach Gautam Gambhir played a big role in creating a culture of showing trust in players within the team. According to him, instead of making continuous changes in big tournaments, the team gave opportunities to almost the same core group for the past two years, and that benefited them. Harmanpreet says giving Jemimah a break was right call Women’s team captain Harmanpreet Kaur said that giving Jemimah Rodrigues a short break during the World Cup proved to be the right decision. She informed that this decision was taken after discussions with coach Amol Muzumdar. Jemimah was one of the reasons for India’s historic Women’s World Cup win, with her unbeaten 127 against Australia in the semifinal being the highlight.