‘I don’t care who we leave out’: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi backs former England captain’s India debut

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi of Rajasthan Royals (ANI Photo) Former England captain Nasser Hussain believes India should not wait too long to hand teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi an international debut, insisting the Rajasthan Royals opener has already done enough to force his way into the national conversation.Speaking to The ICC Review, Hussain heaped praise on the 15-year-old, whose record-breaking IPL 2026 campaign has made him one of the most talked-about young cricketers in the world.“Such an easy answer to that is yes, he has to play. To be honest, I haven’t watched too much IPL, but I’ve watched clips of Sooryavanshi and he’s an incredible talent,” said Nasser Hussain.Sooryavanshi’s numbers from the season were extraordinary. The left-handed opener has amassed 776 runs in 16 matches at a remarkable strike rate of 237.30. He also rewrote the IPL record books by smashing 72 sixes, the most in a single edition of the tournament. His performances earned him both the Orange Cap award and the Most Valuable Player award.The teenager’s rise has attracted the admiration of some of cricket’s biggest names. Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has already publicly endorsed him for the top honour, while batting legend Sachin Tendulkar recently praised the youngster’s technique and fearless batting style.Hussain drew on his own memories of witnessing India’s prodigious talent for the first time and recalled his early encounter with Tendulkar during the Nehru Cup.“One of my first matches for England was in the Nehru Cup, it was so long ago, and this young lad walked out with pads I’d never seen before and his name was Sachin Tendulkar,” Hussain recalled.“And I was absolutely amazed and I noticed that Sachin had posted some tweets about Sooryavanshi’s bat swing and if you can impress Sachin Tendulkar and if you can impress Virat Kohli and others, he impressed everybody. What an incredible talent,” he added.While acknowledging India’s abundance of batting options at the top of the order, Hussain argued that truly exceptional talent ultimately makes selection inevitable.India currently has several established and emerging white-ball openers including Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan. Still, Hussain believes Sooryavanshi’s case is impossible to ignore.“So anywhere else in the world you’d say get him in. But usually in the draw you just name 11 players. Who are you leaving out in international cricket because of him?”“India have a list of batsmen who could play and should play, but eventually someone will make such a case, such a consistent case and such an incredible case that he was selected. At the end of the day, you have to say, I don’t care who we leave out, this guy has to play,” Hussain believes.The former England captain also pointed out that the next phase of Sooryavanshi’s development will involve proving himself in different conditions and overcoming the inevitable challenges that every young batsman faces during a long career.“And I get to the stage where you say this kid has to play because there are other issues when you do it away from home.“Doing it against a ball that’s moving, having a potential dip in form that he hasn’t had yet, finding a weakness, maybe a short ball, who knows?”“But he needs to go through all that before you get to a world event and become a star. We saw that at the Under-19 World Cup. We saw what he did to England at the Under-19 World Cup, to everyone but England in particular. I say this lad is a talent and he has to play,” he said.Sooryavanshi’s credentials go beyond his IPL exploits. He played a key role in India’s U-19 World Cup winning campaign earlier this year, scoring the highest ever score in the final of the tournament against England.The next step on his journey is already underway. After his remarkable domestic and franchise season, Sooryavanshi was named in the India A squad for the upcoming tri-series with Sri Lanka and Afghanistan starting on 9 June.