New Delhi: The wait for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to make his debut continues for India in the two-match T20I series against Ireland, which suffered an unexpected 2-0 defeat under new skipper Shreyas Iyer.The teenage batting star is widely expected to make his debut for the national team, with fans and pundits repeatedly calling for him to join. However, India stuck with their established opening combination, keeping Suryavanshi on the bench for the entire series. Now, with the five-match T20I series against England getting underway in Durham on Wednesday, attention is once again on whether the youngster will finally get a chance.
Top-order struggles add choice arguments
India’s batting performed poorly on the challenging Irish pitches and failed to consistently perform at the highest level throughout the series. These performances have led to increasing calls for Soriyavanshi to be included in the England squad.The 15-year-old was on his maiden call-up to India after a stellar performance in IPL 2026, scoring 776 runs at an incredible strike rate of 237.30 and being named the Player of the Tournament.Despite these numbers, he remains an unused member of the Irish squad.
‘He’s totally ready’: Ryan Ten Duchard
India assistant coach Ryan Ten Dushat believes Suryavanshi is ready for international cricket but insists the youngster must wait for his chance.“He is more than ready to play international cricket, there is no doubt about it. And, I think you can leave out Sanju Samson and it’s not a question. He contributed a lot to India winning the World Cup three months ago. A guy who has done pretty well in the Indian cricket league.”He stressed the importance of supporting players rather than making quick changes.“That’s really important in terms of giving confidence to the players and the message that we send to the players. We want to develop players in the team for the long term. So as much as Vaibhav is ready and we’re excited that you’re going to see him play, he’s going to have to go through the same process as everybody else, you know, bide his time. But there’s no question about how good he is and how well prepared he is.”Ten Dushat admitted India could have adapted better to the conditions in Ireland but refused to blame the fixture list or limited training time.“I think more training does give you a better chance of adapting. I think you also need to be careful with freshness and give guys time to rest and make sure they’re mentally fresh for the series. In hindsight, I wouldn’t have done anything differently.”He added that the team’s training opportunities are limited, but that’s no excuse.“We got here on Thursday and again we know how hard the Irish try to provide good facilities. The training facilities are not ideal so we took a bit of a hit there but of course you’d rather take three or four hits like you would on a normal tour.”“Again, no excuses. If we’re really critical of ourselves, it’s the desire to adapt and play in a different way when you’re faced with different challenges. We put our hands up and said this is something we need to improve faster. “
Will the England series give him a chance?
India will now play a five-match T20I series against England, which will begin on July 1 in Durham. If the opening combination of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma fails to deliver, the team management can finally give Sooryavanshi his much-awaited India debut.
