When your hair has been roasted grey by years of writing on cricket, a certain dullness of mind creeps in, the attention span frays and the sense of wonder that sustains interest slowly drains away. It takes something truly extraordinary to make the heart pound again, to send the blood racing in a sudden surge of excitement. A callow Sachin Tendulkar once did this, infusing life into hardened, world-weary hacks. Today, a chubby-faced 15-year-old is stirring eerily similar emotions.Make what you can of a life that comes only once. In its uncontrollable ebb and flow, it takes a lifetime to master a skill, sporting or otherwise. Only a few, among the vast majority of sportspersons chiselling their way to achieve perfection, truly succeed. The laws of nature dictate a pattern — a graph where learning must precede execution. When someone along the way breaks that mould, almost reversing that graph, you wonder if something miraculous is unfolding.Tendulkar achieved many stupendous feats even before he had fully come of age. He had scored centuries on his first class debut and repeated those feats in other competitive forms of Indian domestic cricket. By 17, he was an Indian star, stirring the imagination of the world that found it hard to believe that a “child” could teach adults how to play. How did this Mumbai kid achieve the batting wisdom of a Don Bradman? When a lifetime seems barely enough to master the intricate technique of batting and the art of scoring runs, how did this lad learn so quickly? Are some rare beings gifted with a divine skill, already embedded in their muscle memory, even before they step onto a cricket field?In the awe and wonder that Tendulkar evoked then — much like Vaibhav Sooryavanshi does now — you begin to wonder: do such prodigies carry an unfinished agenda from a life already lived? Are they part of a chain that extends beyond single existence? These questions, howsoever esoteric or even absurd they may sound to a rational being, are almost inevitable.Let us remain within the defined world of sport and not stray into the fanciful realm of life’s unsolved mysteries that tease logic. Tendulkar began as a possibility at a time when communication was far less sophisticated and technology almost primitive by today’s standards. When he stitched together that 400-run partnership with Vinod Kambli in an inter-school match, the news did not travel in a flash to the far corners of the world. That cricketing world of the late 1980s, too, was vastly different from what it is today. Test cricket was still the game’s prime currency, its unquestioned mainstay and only a madman might have imagined that something like T20 would one day emerge as its most popular form.From a possibility, Tendulkar became a reality by performing on the world stage with staggering ease. He built his legend step by step, brick by brick, through the sheer weight of performances across difficult, varied conditions. His longevity rests on a mountain of runs that seem almost impossible to scale.In comparison to Tendulkar, born into Mumbai’s formidable cricketing lineage, Sooryavanshi, from Tajpur in Bihar, is an heir to a barely existing heritage. In the world he has inherited, Test cricket feels almost an anathema for those who play on surfaces and in conditions tailored for batsmen to clear the ropes almost at will. To survive and thrive in the T20 world, the governing mantra is simple — loot and scoot. After the loud chorus of bang, bang, bang, the whimper becomes inaudible. Those adept at creating sound and fury become instant stars, their dazzle amplified and scattered across a world whose appetite is never quite sated. Almost every second a new star is born. Almost every second another loses its sheen. This is not a world made for longevity. It is a world where only an instant is new and it collapses even as it is born.Sooryavanshi, age 15, steps into this world as if to the manner born. Whatever falls within the arc of his expansive, golf-like swing is dispatched beyond the ropes. You marvel — where does the power come from, the confidence, the timing, to strike sixes as if he were swatting flies.We often say age is a number, but usually in the context of older men, who seek to defy it. In Sooryavanshi’s case, age becomes a number that defies the very logic that talent must mature with time. He seems to have shrunk time, raced ahead of it and now stands almost in mockery of the rest of the cricketing world.I doubt if he is fully aware of the emotional upheaval and expectations he has already aroused among followers and stakeholders of the game. Tendulkar’s entry to cricketing stardom was almost “muted” compared to the storm he has created even before playing for the country. We must remember he is still a possibility, one who could end up among the truly greats of the game. Tougher tests will come, as they do for everyone, when conditions turn difficult, bowlers more menacing and the whistling strike is not always a safe option. Only time will tell whether his defensive fortress is as sound as his aggressive instincts.As he goes deep into the adult world and begins to feel the full weight of expectations, he will have to confront heartbreaks and failures, a fate few, if any, can escape.The sporting arena, like the world itself, can be an unforgiving place. Sooryavanshi’s genius may lie in overcoming adversity yet not abandoning his audacious, daring stroke play that is fast becoming his signature.— The writer is the author of ‘Not Quite Cricket’ and ‘Not Just Cricket’