Japan cricket team captain Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming is not worried about India’s teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi when the two nations meet in a historic one-off T20I on September 22. The 15-year-old Indian player has been the talk of the town for his aggressive style of batting. Sooryavanshi has already broken multiple records at the Under-19 as well as international level, but Kendel isn’t concerned about the player, and the reason behind his confidence lies in a relevant piece of history.
The southpaw has impressed one and all with his terrific stroke play.
Kendel went down memory lane and recalled that Japan’s 17-year-old left-arm spinner, Charlie Hara-Hinze , had dismissed Sooryavanshi before. “Well, our young 17-year-old left-arm spinner has actually got him out before in an Asia Cup at the Under-19 level, so we have got him sorted. We do have two stands that sit there normally, and we can fit around 500 people in the ground. “But I understand we are expecting around 2,000 to 3,000 for this match. After it ends, India will travel to Japan for the Asian Games 2026.
Don’t worry,” Kendel said on Wisden’s The Scoop . Talking further about the match, he said, “I believe they are trying to get some temporary stands in there at the moment. I can’t wait,” Kendel said.
The Japan captain expects fans to turn up for the match and added that security will also be tight during the game. Obviously, these Indian players are A-list celebrities, and I think we will have plenty of supporters, Indian supporters of cricket, coming from Tokyo and everywhere around the country. So there’s going to be plenty of security and probably logistical measures that we haven’t experienced in Japan before. But, yeah, I mean, I don’t know what to expect. Even hearing you talk about India playing a cricket match against Japan sounds surreal. The Indian cricket team is currently playing a three-match T20I series against Afghanistan.
