Rajasthan Royals’ Vaibhav Suryavanshi made the world stand up and take notice as he nonchalantly heaved Shardul Thakur, an Indian international, over cover for a massive six in the very first ball he faced in his IPL career.

It was the dream start any player, let alone a 14-year-old who just became the youngest player in IPL history, could have asked for. The magical moment, however, may just have been written in the stars.

Back in March, almost a month prior to his D-Day, Vaibhav had asked his teammate Fazalhaq Farooqi if he had ever hit a six off his first ball.

“Kabhi hua hai ke aap gaye ho aur first ball pe chakka maar diya ho? (Has it ever happened to you that you just went out there and hit a six in the first ball?)” the young Vaibhav Suryavanshi had asked his Afghan colleague.

“Hat-trick ball thi aur chakka maar diya. Hat-trick ball tha, main gaya toh yuh kiya, aur ek chakka chale gaya. (It was a hat-trick ball, I just went out there, hit it like this and hit it for a six),” Farooqi, a specialist pacer, replied with a cheeky smile.

Though not on a hat-trick ball, on Saturday night, Vaibhav Suryavanshi lived out the very moment he had envisioned during the banter as he hit Shardul for a maximum to bring the crowd at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, and possibly millions watching at home, to their feet.

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Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that the teenager achieved the feat not in a net session, not in an academy trial - but under the lights, on live television, and possibly on one of the biggest stages of them all - the Indian Premier League.

The IPL’s youngest debutant, opening the batting in place of an injured Sanju Samson, was eventually dismissed after playing a fearless knock of 34 off just 20 balls but not before hitting three sixes, two fours and making one unforgettable entrance.

Even before his debut, which he learned about a day prior, a nerve-racked Vaibhav was determined to punish every loose ball that came his way.

“He was elated. But was tense,” his coach Manish Ojha told the Times of India. “I said just be calm and play the way you have been. He said ‘chakke waala ball ayega to marunga, rukunga nahi’ (if the ball asks to be hit for a six, won't hesitate).”

Shardul’s delivery wasn’t exactly loose. It was a length ball around off, which the teenager thwacked over the extra-cover boundary.

In cricket and sport as a whole, the power of manifestation and visualisation often separates the best from the rest.

As one of the modern-day legends Virat Kohli once admitted, "I visualise a lot, and I see myself in difficult situations and actually convince myself that I can pull the team out in those situations. It won't happen every time, but 8 out of 10 times, it will end up happening because you are so convinced about it.”

This mental conditioning - seeing success before it happens - has helped countless cricketers turn debut nerves into defining moments, much like Vaibhav’s first-ball six that almost felt... destined.