Kamal Ghorui
AB de Villiers has made a massive prediction involving two of cricket’s brightest young talents, comparing Jacob Bethell to India’s teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and backing both players to become future superstars of the game.While Bethell is still finding his feet in IPL 2026, Sooryavanshi has already become one of the biggest stories of the tournament. Representing Rajasthan Royals, the 15-year-old prodigy has taken the league by storm with 404 runs in 10 matches and currently sits fifth in the Orange Cap standings. His fearless batting and astonishing strike rate of 237.65 have made him one of the most destructive players this season.
Bethell, meanwhile, joined RCB after a stunning breakthrough campaign in the 2026 T20 World Cup, where he smashed a 45-ball century in the semi-final against India. Retained by Bengaluru for ₹2.60 crore, the England youngster spent much of the early IPL season on the bench before getting opportunities following Phil Salt’s injury. So far, Bethell has scored 43 runs in four matches with a highest score of 20.Speaking on his YouTube podcast, the former Royal Challengers Bengaluru legend showered praise on Bethell, saying the young England batter reminds him of Sooryavanshi due to the immense talent both left-handers possess at such an early stage of their careers.“I am pretty sure I have mentioned his name few times. I do agree with you. He’s a wonderful, wonderful player,” de Villiers said.”Very different ages actually, but both are left-handers. He reminds me of Sooryavanshi. Fantastic talent, huge future ahead of them. Bright, bright, bright superstars of the game of cricket, but plenty still to learn, plenty of obstacles still to go through,” he added. De Villiers stressed that while both players are blessed with extraordinary natural ability, experience and handling challenges over time will be key to unlocking their full potential.”Jacob is not as young as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, but with similar credentials almost. Superstar talent but plenty still to learn. Once they gain experience over time, I feel those two players will be unstoppable,” he added.The South African great also expressed confidence that RCB will continue investing in Bethell for the long term.“Hopefully Jacob will stay with RCB. I have no doubt that they will have plans of keeping hold of him for many years to come. I do believe he has got the ability to win plenty of games for RCB in the future,” de Villers concluded.
