Sooryavanshi will be a bigger player than Sachin and Kohli combined: Dale Steyn

Legendary South African fast bowler Dale Steyn has dropped a massive projection, claiming that teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is destined to surpass the monumental legacies of batting icons Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli by the conclusion of his playing days.

Sooryavanshi emerged as a teenage prodigy after finishing the IPL season with the most runs and winning the Orange Cap. The 15-year-old also broke Chris Gayle`s record for most sixes during an IPL season. During the post-tournament award ceremony, Sooryavanshi won the most awards among all players.

"Sooryavanshi is a different gravy, man! He`s better than most international players right now. He is a boy wonder, somebody who is a treasure for Indian cricket," Steyn told a select media gathering during an interaction facilitated by SA20 in the lead-up to Season 5.

While full of praise, the premier fast bowler heavily stressed that the Indian cricket ecosystem must carefully nurture and protect the young batter to guarantee a sustainable, long-term trajectory.

"You think of guys like Sachin, Virat, and this kid is going to explode. He`s going to be bigger than both of them put together at the end of his career. So, I would caution how you manage him and look after him because with great responsibility comes great reward.

"But there`s a big threat there that you could lose him at some point if you don`t look after him well enough," he added.

Sooryavanshi`s extraordinary IPL exploits immediately earned him a maiden call-up to the senior Indian T20I squad for their upcoming bilateral tours of Ireland and England.

Steyn heaps praise on Virat Kohli

Dale Steyn also praised 37-year-old Kohli for maintaining his elite standard and dominance despite the emergence of younger competitors. Kohli`s brilliance guided RCB to back-to-back IPL titles

"I think Kohli`s ability to sustain his mental approach to the game, stay fresh, stay wanting to continue to perform, says a lot about him. He`s got a lot of self-drive, which is something that I think all of us cricketers had when in my era, and that`s the only thing that we had," he said.

(With PTI inputs)