“Does she really want that?” : AB de Villiers has one big ‘doubt’ about Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

South African batting great AB de Villiers has backed Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s talent but said he is not sure if the 15-year-old will decide to take up red-ball cricket in the future.Speaking at an event in Mumbai on Sunday, de Villiers said Sooryavanshi had the skills to succeed in Test cricket but doubted whether the teenager would want to take that route.“Yeah, he’s an amazing talent. The red ball thing that I absolutely can’t answer. I think he can if he wants to, but there’s your answer and there’s also the big question of does he really want to? Time will tell. There’s no doubt that he has the talent and ability to do it. It’s not always going to be easy and I’ve said that several times in ANI,” de Vililers was quoted as saying.The former South Africa captain said there would be challenges if Sooryavanshi decided to play the longer format, but backed his ability to handle them.“If he decides to play red-ball cricket, there will be some issues, but he has the ability and the ability to work through it and in my opinion, I hope he tries to play Test cricket, but I doubt it. We’ll see in the future.”De Villiers also backed the selectors’ decision to include Sooryavanshi in India’s T20I squad for the upcoming tour of Ireland and England as well as the Asian Games.On Saturday, the BCCI named Sooryavanshi in all three squads, making him the youngest player ever to be selected for the Indian side at the age of 15. He broke the 36-year-old record held by Sachin Tendulkar, who made his international debut against Pakistan in 1989 at the age of 16.De Villiers called the selectors’ move the right one and said the teenager deserved his place.“It’s definitely the right call from the selectors. Well done to them for taking a bold decision. It would be easy to say he’s still too young and not ready and go for more experience. He’s broken the door and deserves his place in the Indian T20 team so I’m happy for him,” he said.Sooryavanshi earned a call-up after a record-breaking IPL 2026 season with Rajasthan Royals. The Bihar batsman finished as the tournament’s top scorer with 776 runs at a strike rate of 237.30.He also hit a career-high 72 sixes during the season and collected several post-season awards, including Most Valuable Player (MVP), Emerging Player of the Season, Super Striker, Orange Cap and Super Sixes of the Season.

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