IPL to IPO – Meet the Gen Z icons outshining the experienced

Because while the world debated whether Gen Z could follow instructions, a handful of them were too busy making history to notice.

From grandmasters who studied openings before they studied algebra, to a cricket prodigy who made the IPL sit up straight, to a college dropout who built a billion-dollar company before he reached a legal drinking age — these five didn’t just outperform their peers. They quietly dismantled the idea that you needed age, experience, or permission to be exceptional.

The Accidental Grandmaster – R Praggnanandhaa

Born in a modest family in Padi, Praggnanandhaa and his sister Vaishali are India’s first brother-sister grandmaster duo. What were toys for him as a toddler as his sister won gold medals, became his source of earning Rs 5-7 crore a year, today. Outshining his competition at the young age of 7, he became the youngest International Master in history at 10 years, 10 months, and 19 days, breaking Judit Polgar’s record in 2016.

Recognised by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his historic win against Magnus Carlsen, Praggnanandhaa came from a family where his father was a bank manager and a mother who knew nothing about chess. Who once struggled to cover travel costs to compete, Praggnanandhaa became the youngest IM and attracted long-term sponsorship from Ramco Group which covered all his costs. And soon, Adani, Indian Oil Corporation, and ITC joined in.

The speed with which he progressed started out as a means to divert attention from TV and soon brought real corporate attention to chess in India. He set the benchmark so high that legends like Vishwanathan Anand became a milestone towards the peak.

Today, Praggnanandhaa, the Indian chess prodigy is the recipient of the Arjun Awards (2022) and a Rs 50 lakh cash prize from the Tamil Nadu government after he won the Norway Chess title in Oslo, scripting history to be the first Indian to do so. The 20-year-old was also gifted an EV by Anand Mahindra in 2023 to appreciate his contribution to the game. Some of Praggnanandhaa’s titles include FIDE Circuit, 45th Chess Olympiad in Paris, FIDE World Cup, Asian Games, Tata Steel Chess India Open, and World Youth Chess Championships (Under-8 and Under-10). Cementing his standing as a world champion, he is currently ranked No. 16 with a FIDE rating of 2735.

In fact, in a virtual conversation, Dr Munia Bhattacharya, Sr. Consultant, Clinical Psychology, Marengo Asia Hospitals, Gurugram, told Financial Express Digital about how the prodigies are made and what effects this might have on their future. “Markers of exceptional drive can emerge surprisingly early, sometimes between ages 4 and 7, when children begin showing unusual persistence, curiosity or focus around a specific interest.”

Recalling from their experience, Bhattacharya shared that the children usually spend hours mastering one skills, while their peers move on within minutes. “However, what seems different today is not necessarily the brain itself but the environment around it. Gen Z children are exposed to information, role models and opportunities much earlier. The window isn’t opening earlier; it’s becoming more visible sooner.”

Undervalued IPL prodigy – Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

A Gen Z not afraid to make the headlines, he became one of the most recognisable faces in Indian cricket. Often compared to cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is not far behind. Becoming the youngest player to be selected in Team India, his stellar IPL run silenced all critics.

Aged 8, his father recognised his exceptional batting talents. But to hone this skill, his parents traveled nearly 100 km everyday from the crack of dawn at 3 AM preparing meals to save every penny they could. In October 2024, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, a young 13-year-old talent, was invited by Rajasthan Royals for trials at their academy at Talegaon. Smashing a signature six at a ball coming at 157 kmph – life came to him faster.

In the Indian Premier League, Sooryavanshi signed a deal worth Rs 1.1 crore but overdelivered like his life was on the line. He scored 776 clean runs, hit the record of 72 sixes, and won the youngest-ever Orange Cap record. He broke the record of Sai Sudharshan by a huge margin who won the Orange Cap for securing 759 runs at the age of 23.

Analysts now place his on-field value of Rs 34 crore after the 2026 season, much higher than Lucknow Super Giants’ Rishabh Pant’s Rs 27 crore auction amount. As the newest ‘Complan Boy’ of commercial advertisement, he became GenZ’s biggest inspiration.

The Cyber Boy of India – Sarthak Sidhant

Studying in CBSE, shocked by a system which held the faith of millions, Sarthak Sidhant became the face of the On-Screen Marking controversy. Raised in a tech-oriented family, computers for Gen Z was not a new concept. But what stunned his peers was his self-taught programming, web scraping, ethical hacking, civic tech, and government tender analysis.

Exposing what affected 18 lakh families across the country, Sarthak was himself a victim to the same evaluation procedure. But he was not alone, making headlines overnight, he worked closely with Nisarga Adhikary, a Dubai-based CBSE student with a great insight into ethical hacking.

They broke into the system and pointed out flaws which should have been fixed in the first place. The 15 changes were 15 ways how Gen Z, the ‘tech-obsessed’ generation, held up the mirror. Not only did it stir the global media, but also led to the formulation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education on June 2, 2026. In the end, he remains true to his Gen Z instincts and questions, not as a whistleblower, but someone who is simply asking ‘why’.

The clinical psychologist also told financialexpress.com, that while parents who might try to divert their children towards ‘better alternatives’ it might foster conditions to nurture geniuses who were already there. “The most successful stories usually involve attentive parents who notice the spark and nurture it consistently. In psychology, we often say, “Potential is common, recognition is rare.” Genius is rarely about forcing excellence. It’s about someone noticing where a child’s eyes light up and giving that interest room to grow.”

The IPO Billionaire – Aadit Palicha

At the helm of launching an initial public offering, as his startup prepares to list among the likes of some of the biggest stocks in India, Zepto founder Aadit Palicha will finally enter the billionaire club. And how did it all start? An online chat group which delivered groceries in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Born in Mumbai, the entrepreneurial spirit was always there for this Gen Z. Finding a natural inclination towards building a tech architecture, Palicha was academically inclined and prepared for excellence. Scoring a perfect 45/45 on his International Baccalaureate, he went on to pursue computer science at one of the best universities in the world, Stanford.

But maybe that was not enough, or maybe he was just ‘being a Gen Z’. Amid the 2020 pandemic, he dropped out of Stanford at the age of 18. Something he had worked for his whole life did not seem like what he wanted. But Palicha knew there was more. He masterminded with his childhood friend Kaivalya Vohra. Finding themselves back in Mumbai, they launched their hyper-local experiment and bridged the gap between the pandemic and survival.

Zepto came and pioneered India’s ‘dark-store’ economy and rewrote the norms of quick-commerce. Now a $5 billion juggernaut, he is one of India’s youngest billionaires, a Gen Z who gives tough competition to Albinder Dhindsa’s BlinkIt in every form.

Cornell to a16z Speedrun – Kinjal Nandy

Born in a small-town in West Bengal, all he had was a computer. Kinjal was no Silicon Valley tech-bro, instead a coder who started at 12 and peaked at 16. The tech prodigy, he started to build websites for small businesses in his teen years, now openly documents the grind of company-building — fundraising rejections, first hires, the loneliness of early-stage building — giving young Indians a realistic playbook instead of a highlight reel.

At 16, he engineered a machine-learning tool designed to track and detect fake news online and by 17, he had over 1,00,000 users as he prepared to sell the asset. The self-taught Gen Z earned admission to study Computer Science at Ivy League giant Cornell University. But he realised soon enough that generative AI was after nearly every job to exist. He dropped out, packed his bags, and built Sonatic – an applied research lab focused on next-generation human-computer interaction.

And this conviction paid off as he secured a pre-seed funding of Rs 191 crore led by Andreessen Horowitz’s (a16z) elite accelerator program.

It is a well-known fact that success comes with sacrifice and these two phenomena cannot exist independently of each other. Bhattacharya, the medical expert added, “Many high achievers carry a deep awareness of what their families have endured, and that often fuels remarkable discipline and determination. But when success starts feeling like repayment rather than self-expression, pressure can quietly replace passion,” sharing how they had worked with several high-achievers merely driven by fear.

However, the previous generations were told “wait your turn,” but Gen Z doesn’t seem to believe in it. Trying to pin-point whether this impatience is a character trait or superpower, Bhattacharya agrees, “Gen Z is exceptionally good at starting early. The next challenge is learning how to stay committed when success takes longer than expected.”

At the same time, “Gen Z has grown up in a world where information, feedback and opportunities arrive instantly. Naturally, they expect progress to move faster too. This mindset can be a superpower because it encourages initiative, experimentation and confidence. However, the challenge is tolerating slow growth and setbacks.”