Cricket fans have been in awe of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s electrifying performances, but as every promising talent in the field encounters their own hurdles, some of them must cross a line of crisscrossed tension that is a test of both skill and temperament. The test that has come calling is for India’s teenage hot property, from England pacemaker Jofra Archer. Archers short-ball strategy, as usual in his T20 career, dominated the game of the match, getting the young batsman stitched in the fourth game in Bristol for the second straight match.As it was in his T20 career, the light side of the ball dominated in Bristol as the young batter was dismissed the second game running.

The match between the veteran fast bowler and the unbeatable lad has emerged as one of the talking points of the India-England T20I series so far. England’s victory meant they secured the series, but it was the battle between Archer and Sooryavanshi that has been as thrilling as the matches. This is a race of quickness, boldness, versatility and respect for one another.

Prior to the international cricket career of Sooryavanshi, he was impressing some of the among the biggest names in the game. Former RCB skipper and director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara discussed Archer’s emergence in the Indian Premier League, when there was some hesitation initially in facing him by the young batter. Yet, when Sooryavanshi took the ball, he made some clean shots which left everybody in a state of disbelief to watch Archer bowl so aggressively from a new ball. Even the able Archer was left with a smile, with the teenager pelting one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket.

But the two got their chance in international cricket, and Sooryavanshi was definitely on the scoreboard when he put Archer for two on a first ball six at Old Trafford. It was yet another amazing achievement for the teenager as they all had faced them just off his sixth ball in his T20 debuts against them. But few hitters let alone a teenager debuting internationally are so confident.

Instead of chipping away at the ball by pitching it up, England’s master fast bowler adopted a more decided route of trying to hit the body or head of the batsman forwards with a great deal of bouncers, mixed into a barrage of carefully placed yorkers. The aim was straightforward: to take away any opportunities for Sooryavanshi to maneuver his arms and bring him under unnatural hook and pull angles.

Archer had a knack for accelerating his balls into young Ferguson, hitting speeds of more than 145 km/h at Trent Bridge. Sooryavanshi would soon put Archer ahead of the curve by hitting a short ball to his then wicketkeeper Jos Buttler in the gloves.

However, knowing exactly what they were looking for, Archer, yet again, declined to make any width or full driveable deliveries. On the contrary, he did his duty over and over again to hit bone-shattering short balls and spickle precision yorkers. DespiteSooryavanshi’s natural attacking style, however, he found it difficult to coherently hit a few middle hooks in succession before miscalculating an attacking stroke into a waiting glans.

But to say that Sooryavanshi is outplayed altogether is too harsh a judgement. The teenager did not have a trouble-free match against any other England bowler, even off Archer’s good spells of bowling, as boundaries fell against Josh Tongue. His elusiveness and his ability to recover and keep attacking remains one of his best attributes.

So today’s skirmish may not so much be over ‘flaws’ as about decision making. The hook shot is a shot that has a lot of potential for danger against Archer’s pace, accuracy and experience. modern T20 cricket is a game of fearlessness in batting, but also for selecting shots. It’s sometimes better, to be respectful to one challenge, and to mix in the next set of which the first was not so threatening.

This is something many T20 legends, such as Chris Gayle, have learnt to do and he made use of it quite frequently he knew when to play aggressively and when to take some pressure before he could once again strike back.

Sooryavanshi’s ability to master such an interesting facet of the game has the potential to take his name to the next level. He already has an extraordinary talent, he is very confident and has the rare ability to intimidate world class bowlers but at the age of just 15. The challenge now is to combine with patience and match awareness to an already explosive batting style.

What is their great rivalry is the respect that is given between them. While Sooryavanshi has exhibited no doubt isn’t bringing his fast bowling saffron into a school that the teenager hasn’t yet joined, Archer has never had a superior attitude towards him when it comes to age. It is top-notch sporting activity at its most basic, where reputations have little value when the competition kicks off.

While the T20I series is decided, the eyes of cricket fans will now be fixed on the last game of the series where they will once again be awe-struck by yet another chapter in this intriguing series. But every great batter has experienced some kind of a down in his career and what might matter more than the runs scored by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is the manner in which he deals with the patch. His stellar form thus far is unlikely to deter him from his superstar trajectory for long, given this next hurdle.

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