The teenager’s absence from the team was once again the talking point after captain Shreyas Iyer announced an unchanged team for the clash. Sooryavanshi is yet to play in this season, and if India lose the match, there could be a case for the team sticking to the same batting line-up for the series decider. It was the same old story for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi as he was left out of India’s playing XI for the 4th T20I against the West Indies in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Amid the debate surrounding Sooryavanshi, a key comparison has emerged between his time in the Indian team under head coaches Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman.
The 15-year-old who has scored 246 runs from eight T20Is but at a blistering strike-rate of 186. “A 38-or 40-year-old (Virat) Kohli is playing, and a 15-year-old (Vaibhav) Sooryavanshi is also playing. Since the aforementioned stat pertains to matches that yielded a result, it is worth mentioning that Sooryavanshi was not part of India’s squad for the Asian Games quarter-final against Afghanistan, with the Shreyas Iyer-led side advancing without a ball being bowled due to their higher ranking.
Recently, former India batter Virender Sehwag said age should not be a matter of concern if a player is good enough to handle top-flight cricket, suggesting Sooryavanshi should be playing more matches. Then, performance matters,” Sehwag said. Amid the debate surrounding Sooryavanshi, a key comparison has emerged between his time in the Indian team under head coach Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman , who is the head of BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE). Just eight games into his T20I career for India, Sooryavanshi has made five of those appearances with Laxman in charge of the team.
