Former England wicket-keeper bat Matt Prior has showered praise on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi amid all the limelight. Prior said Sooryavanshi has same mentality as former Australian skipper Steve Waugh, who was known to deliver in crunch situations.

In his young and short career, Sooryavanshi has already shown he is a big-match player. He scored 776 runs in 16 matches of IPL 2026 at a rocket strike rate of 237.30 for Rajasthan Royals and was awarded the MVP of the season.

He scored a blistering knock of 175 runs in the Under-19 World Cup final against England. Recently, he smashed 94 runs off just 29 balls in the tri-series final against Sri Lanka A.

Matt Prior said on talkSPORT Cricket YouTube Channel, “On top of all the talent, he has Steve Waugh’s mentality and mental strength. He’s not doing this in games people aren’t watching. He’s doing it in World Cup finals and IPL knockouts. He’s doing it when the whole world is watching. He puts in match-winning performances in the big games, which shows that there’s a mentality there. Maybe he just finds it so easy that he doesn’t get affected and just cracks on.”

Prior hailed Sooryavanshi for taking the world-class bowlers to the cleaners in IPL 2026.

“You’ve got very experienced players and some of the best that have ever played the game who can’t hit Bumrah and Cummins. And this lad turns up and just puts them 20 rows back. He’s making a mockery of everyone else.”

The former English gloveman said Sooryavanshi is going to make millions by smashing the big shots and he won’t even field because of the impact player rule.

“This bloke is literally living the dream. He goes out and opens the batting, hits fours and sixes, and is lauded for it. If he gets out, it’s kind of okay. And then he doesn’t field. In an era where there is so much money, he’s going to earn millions and millions for just smoking it and then not fielding. That’s the lottery,” said Prior (via the aforementioned source).

India will take on England in the first T20I on Wednesday.