India, June 22 -- Vaibhav Sooryavanshi had endured an underwhelming opening phase of the Tri-Nation A series, scoring just 117 runs in his first four matches. Scores of 14, 44, 21 and 38 showed the precocious promise of the 15-year-old, while a strike rate of 150.6 revealed the aggression. But the end product was, by his own standards, a far cry from what he was capable of. Before the final against Sri Lanka A, India-A coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar sat his former India U-19 protege down, and offered him a simple piece of advice. "Tu apna natural game khel, zyada soch mat. (Play your natural game, and don't think too much)."

It worked a treat. Sooryavanshi demolished the Sri Lanka bowling attack in a whirlwind 94 off just 29 balls, with ten f...