Harmanpreet Kaur urges young India women to adopt Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s fearless approach
Harmanpreet Kaur urged India's younger women cricketers to embrace the fearlessness of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in Jaipur on Friday, November 13, when she unveiled her wax statue. She told reporters she wants the next generation to play aggressive cricket in the same mould as the teenager.
The statue unveiled by Harmanpreet will be installed at the Historical Museum inside Nahargarh Fort and will stand alongside figures of MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar. "Yes, definitely, like right now he has set an example with the way he is playing cricket. And I'm sure that the new young girls coming up will also play aggressive cricket like this, and across the entire country and the entire world, they will change the image of women's cricket and try to play impressive cricket in the same way," Harmanpreet told reporters in Jaipur.
The former India captain said Sooryavanshi's fearless approach could encourage young girls to be more expressive and positive with the bat and help develop a more attacking identity in women's cricket. She made the remarks while receiving recognition for her role in India's recent successes.
At 15, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has already drawn attention for his explosive batting in domestic and franchise cricket. He announced himself in the IPL in 2025 by hitting a 101 off just 38 balls for Rajasthan Royals against Gujarat Titans, a century that came off 35 deliveries and made him the youngest centurion in men's T20 cricket and one of the fastest to reach the landmark in IPL history.
Sooryavanshi continued to attract headlines in 2026 when he scored a 103 off 37 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Earlier this year he broke Shafali Verma's record to become the youngest Indian to play international cricket when he made his debut during the tour of England.
Harmanpreet led India to their maiden Women's ODI World Cup title in 2025, and her Jaipur wax statue was presented as another recognition of her contribution to that campaign. She stepped down as India's captain across all three formats in October but remains part of the team as a player.
Harmanpreet will next be in action on India's all-format tour of South Africa in December, where the teams will play one Test, three ODIs and three T20Is; the Test begins in Gqeberha on December 9, followed by the ODI series from December 16.
