India, May 26 -- Every Indian teenage batting prodigy eventually meets Sachin Tendulkar's shadow. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has reached that shadow earlier than most, but the comparison already risks missing the real story.

The question is not whether Vaibhav is the next Sachin. The question is how much cricket has changed since Sachin was first asked to prove that a boy could survive among men.

On November 15, 1989, a 16-year-old walked out in Karachi against one of the most hostile pace attacks ever assembled. Sachin Tendulkar scored 15 and was dismissed by Waqar Younis, who was himself on debut. Neither player knew it, but both were about to undergo the same examination: whether their bodies and minds were built for the sharpest men's cri...