‘I watched India burn’: Jacob Bethell’s big verdict on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi after England beat India

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (BCCI Photo) Indian teenager Vaibhav Sooryavanshi may not have enjoyed the dream debut he had hoped for, but he earned praise from England match-winner Jacob Bethell after the second T20I in Manchester on Saturday.15-year-old Sooryavanshi became India’s youngest ever T20I debutant when he was selected for the second match against England. Despite managing only 14 runs, the left-hander showed flashes of his talent with two sixes before being stumped.After England’s four-wicket win, Bethell said he was following Sooryavanshi’s progress and believed the youngster had a bright future.“Yeah. It feels weird to say I’m playing against someone seven years younger than me, but, yeah, you know, I saw him bat in India. I watched him, you know, today, swing and everything’s clean. So yeah, he’s an incredible talent,” Bethell said.

India’s youngest T20I debutant

At 15 years, 3 months and 7 days, Sooryavanshi broke Shafali Verma’s record to become India’s youngest international debutant.The Bihar youngster earned an India call-up after a sensational IPL season with Rajasthan Royals, where he scored 776 runs in 16 matches, including a century and five fifties. He also broke Chris Gayle’s record of sixes in a single IPL season.However, his international debut ended quietly as he scored 14 before being stumped. He later took his first international catch on the boundary during England’s chase.

Bethell leads England’s chase

While Sooryavanshi’s debut grabbed much attention, it was Bethell who stole the show with an unbeaten 76 that steered England to a four-wicket win as they chased down 191. The hosts reached the target with a margin to spare to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.Bethell said the performance against one of the world’s strongest bowling attacks made the innings all the more satisfying.“I really enjoyed the semi-final (T20 World Cup 2026) even though we couldn’t get over the line. They’re highly skilled strikers, I just played them on two nice pitches. And yes, you want to do well against the best teams in the world. So yes, it’s really nice,” he said.England were struggling at 1/2 before Harry Brook’s aggressive 39 off 15 balls changed the momentum. Bethell then built important partnerships, particularly with Tom Banton, to keep the chase on track.“It ended up being good, but when I went into at-bat two, Brooky set the tone there really well. He turned the momentum right back on them … everybody was just shaking. You don’t go fast all the time in chases like that, but a couple of big overs and then the game swings,” Bethell said.

Bishnoi’s costly over changes the game

The decisive moment came in the 17th over when Ravi Bishnoi conceded 29 runs, including two no-balls that gave England two free hits.Bethell admitted that England had changed their approach after the freebies.“If I’m being honest, I’d probably go for the other end more… But when there’s a couple of free hits and then the pitcher’s down, you try to take it. So yeah, it’s all worked out really well,” he said.Bethell also said England’s batters have adapted well to different sizes of boundaries instead of focusing only on the shorter side.“On the one hand it might be easier to hit sixes, but you can score the same number of runs by hitting the bigger gaps. It was just about being smart. I thought as a batting group we were really good at that,” he added.Despite the defeat, Sooryavanshi’s debut remained one of the biggest talking points of the match, with Bethell’s glowing praise highlighting the excitement surrounding India’s latest teenage sensation.