‘Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s craze is on another level altogether’: Japan cricketer Abhishek Anand

India and Japan are scheduled to play a historic, one-off T20I match on September 22 at the Sano International Cricket Ground in Tochigi, Japan. Ahead of the landmark fixture, Japan cricketer Abhishek Anand spoke about the massive global impact of 15-year-old Indian prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, noting that players in the Japanese team are eager to meet him.

Anand, who was born in Bihar and studied at IIT Kanpur, moved to Japan for work before joining the national cricket team. Although Anand has played 18 T20Is for Japan since his debut in 2025, he was not included in the 15-member squad selected to face India.