15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi makes Time100 Next list

At 15, Indian batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is the youngest person on the 2026 Time100 Next list.

Time describes the annual list as 100 emerging talents expected to shape their fields. Sooryavanshi is one of seven athletes chosen this year, according to the BBC.

The other sports names are American football quarterback Arch Manning, NBA player Tyrese Maxey, footballers Naomi Girma and Folarin Balogun, tennis player Alexandra Eala and basketball player Olivia Miles. British singer-songwriter Raye also makes the list.

Sooryavanshi's rise has been fast. Rajasthan Royals bought him at the 2024 Indian Premier League auction when he was 13. The IPL is India's big franchise T20 league, where teams bid for players. That made him the youngest player ever signed at an IPL auction.

He then became the youngest player to score a century in men's T20 cricket. A century means 100 runs in one innings by a single batter. T20 is cricket's shortest format, with 20 overs per side and matches done in about three hours.

His breakthrough knock came in his debut IPL season. He smashed a 35-ball hundred against Gujarat Titans, as reported by Reuters. He had already made his first-class debut at 12. First-class is the multi-day domestic game, a step below Test cricket.

The runs kept coming. He scored his second T20 hundred before turning 15, hitting 144 off 42 balls for India A. Then in 2026 he powered India to the Under-19 World Cup title, according to Time. His Time profile was written by Charlie Campbell.

What makes this stand out is the speed of the jump. Most players spend years moving from age-group cricket to senior cricket to franchise leagues. Sooryavanshi has ticked all three before his 16th birthday, while facing senior international bowlers.

Time will honour the class of 2026 at an event in New York on 29 October. Raye, a fellow list member, is due to perform.