Former England captain Michael Vaughan was left shocked after India decided to leave out Vaibhav Sooryavanshi from the playing XI for the first T20I against Ireland in Belfast on Friday. The world was waiting to see the 15-year-old don the senior India jersey, but the teen prodigy needs to wait for his first international cap. The Men in Blue, headed by Shreyas Iyer, opted to go with continuity and not break the T20 World Cup-winning pair of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson up top.
However, Vaughan reckons that Sooryavanshi should have been picked in the lineup because of his recent form. The left-hander recently smashed the fastest List-A fifty, getting to the milestone off just 11 balls against Sri Lanka A in Dambulla.
Apart from criticising Sooryavanshi’s non-selection, Vaughan also labelled the youngster as the “best T20 player in the world.”
“Can’t believe India haven’t picked Vaibhav Sooryavanshi .. the best T20 player at the moment in the World .. #India,” Vaughan wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Sooryavanshi earned his place in India’s playing XI owing to his performance in the IPL, where he smashed 776 runs in 16 matches, including one century and two ninety+ scores. He also broke Chris Gayle’s record of most sixes in a single edition of the IPL.
Now one needs to wait and see whether Sooryavanshi makes his debut in the next T20I against Ireland on Sunday in Belfast. The youngster is also a part of the squad for the five T20Is against England, beginning July 1 in Durham.
Dodda Ganesh agrees
Former India and Karnataka pacer Dodda Ganesh also expressed shock at not seeing Sooryavanshi’s name on the team sheet and questioned the management for having six bowling options for the match against Ireland.
“No debut for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Why do you need six bowling options against Ireland? Mind rankles #IREvIND,” Ganesh wrote on X.
Speaking at the toss, India captain Shreyas Iyer explained the decision to leave out Sooryavanshi, saying the youngster needs to wait for his chance despite being a “gun player.”
“He’s a gun player. But obviously, we’ve got tremendous experience in the squad who have done brilliantly in the past couple of series for India. So we are backing the majority of our cricketers who have been doing absolutely marvellous throughout the season. So I think he’ll get his opportunity when the time comes. But for now, we are going with three genuine seamers, one all-rounder, and two spinners,” said Shreyas after winning the toss and opting to bowl.
