13-year-old Indian cricketer Vaibhav Suryavanshi has become the youngest player ever to be drafted in the IPL overnight, after being auctioned off for $200,000 to the Rajasthan Royals.

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Born in 2011, Suryavanshi has already played five first-class games and a domestic T20 for his state Bihar — and is India’s youngest player at the level since 1986.

A left-hander top-order batter, the prodigy is surprisingly already well-known in some Australian cricket circles; having made an eye-watering 58-ball hundred against Australia’s U19s earlier this year.

Suryavanshi’s whirlwind knock at just 13 years and 187 days old made him the youngest player ever to score a century in youth cricket, smashing the previous record held by Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto by over a year.

His innings just fell short of the record for the fastest century in an U19 red-ball match, with Moeen Ali’s 56-ball ton against Sri Lanka in 2005 narrowly holding its title.

Subsequently, it’s not a total surprise that franchises were interested in investing long-term with Suryavanshi, as a mini bidding war ensued for the youngster.

Delhi Capitals and his eventual team the Royals bid upwards from his base price of 30 lakhs, with the latter eventually coming up trumps with a final bid of 1.1 crore (currently equating to $200,727 AUD).

“He’s been to our high performance centre in Nagpur, he had trials there and really impressed our coaching set-up there,” Royals chief executive Jake Lush McCrum said after the auction ended.

“He’s an incredible talent, and of course you’ve got to have the confidence so he can step up to the IPL level.

“Lots of work will go into the coming months to continue to develop him, but hell of a talent and we’re really excited to have him as part of the franchise.”

Suryavanshi will at the very least train alongside the likes of England star Jofra Archer and Sri Lankan duo Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana.

The Royals also selected South African young gun Kwena Maphaka, 18, who played three T20I’s for the Proteas in late August against the West Indies.