‘I don’t think he will…’: Cheteshwar Pujara on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s India debut in England
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (Photo AP) Former India batsman Cheteshwar Pujara believes it may take some time for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to get his chance in the T20I series against England. The 15-year-old’s international debut was a major talking point, especially after India’s 0-2 series defeat to Ireland.“There is a lot of hype around him and as a young player he should not focus on what is being said about him. I think it is important to keep outside noise away from him and the best way to do that is to focus only on the game. I don’t think he will get an opportunity directly,” Cheteshwar Pujara told Star Sports.Pujara highlighted why he does not expect Sooryavanshi to break into the playing XI immediately as the team management is likely to stick with the top order of World Cup winners Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan.“Team India would not want to change their top three and I don’t think Vaibhav will get his opportunity in the first 2 or 3 matches. Once the Indian team starts doing well, whenever there is an opportunity in the rotation, that’s when Vaibhav will enter the playing XI. What he did in the IPL, it won’t be easy to repeat the same in English conditions,” he added.
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Share an opinionVaibhav was included in India’s T20I squad ahead of the Ireland-England series after a sensational IPL campaign, but is yet to make his international debut.The youngster arrived in the national team in excellent form after smashing a record 11-ball List A-55 for India A against Sri Lanka A in Dambulla.Vaibhav also has experience of playing in English conditions as he toured the country with the Indian Under-19 team in 2025. He finished as the top scorer in this one-day series, scoring 355 runs at an average of 71 and a strike rate of 174.