Is India not treating its new superstar Vaibhav Sooryavanshi right? Scientists are responding

As the sun slowly set and the lights came on at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday, September 13, fans gathered to watch the 15-year-old sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. He is the talk of the town for the way he bats and the fearless way he takes on some of the world’s most feared bowlers.

The crowd started following him in numbers, much like they did with a young Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni. But once the draw was completed and the teams left, one big name was missing: Sooryavanshi.

The youngster entered the series on the back of an impressive T20I campaign in Zimbabwe where he was named Player of the Series and also won the Man of the Match award in the final. The 15-year-old amassed 151 runs at a strike rate of 196.10 during the tour.

However, his preparations for the series were affected by his involvement in the Duleep Trophy final, with the youngster playing a red-ball match just two days before the opening T20I. He was one of three players from that final to make the series.

That might have been why India retained Sooryavanshi, but Mohammed Kaif and Kris Srikkanth were not convinced.

STATE OF CONFUSION

Kaif, while talking to Cricbuzz, was clear in his assessment. India still haven’t figured out what their best combination is. The former cricketer said that Samson did not deserve to play in the first match and that the leadership of the team should have remained up with Abhishek Sharma and Sooryavanshi.

He feels that chopping and changing the team will not benefit the team and claimed that Sooryavanshi himself might be wondering what he did wrong to be dropped.

“What did Sanju do to play the first T20I? When you get dropped from the team, you play in different tournaments to get back into form, but in Samson’s case, nothing like that happened. Why didn’t you go for the combination of Abhishek and Suryavanshi after the young batsman did well in Zimbabwe?”

“They are not sure about their best opening combination. The Indian team is still thinking about their openers. Vaibhav must have felt bad because he did nothing wrong. This could lead to confusion, which is not good for any team,” Kaif said on Cricbuzz.

Srikkanth is not a fan of the way the team management has treated Samson and Sooryavanshi in the last few matches. Samson kicked off England’s series before paving the way for the youngster to return towards the end.

He was then dropped for the Zimbabwe series, with Sooryavanshi playing all three matches. Now Samson seems to be back and Sooryavanshi is warming the bench.

Srikkanth said that if India gives Sooryavanshi a chance, she should stick with him for the next three series.

“Either give Sanju Samson a good, full go and then drop him if it doesn’t work. Or similarly give Vaibhav Sooryavanshi a good chance for five or six games. Don’t keep giving them piecemeal chances.”

“What will they do now? They will probably play Sooryavanshi in the next game. If he doesn’t score, they will drop him again.”

“If you gave Sooryavanshi a chance, you should tell him, ‘You’re not going to be out for three series. Don’t worry about it. Just go and play your game,'” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.

SOORYAVANSHI, THE CROWD DOWNLOADER

Sooryavanshi’s growing fandom was on full display during the Duleep Trophy final as fans turned up to watch the boy wonder as he lit up Chepauk with his aggressive batting.

Even on its debut in India, Sooryavanshi reportedly had 3.4 million viewers watching it burn in England. Srikkanth revealed how his wife got angry when she saw that the youngster was left out on Sunday and that they simply switched channels.

“The moment Sooryavanshi was not acting, we started watching something else. Even my wife asked me, ‘Sooryavanshi is not acting? What is this?’

“He’s angry. He’s asking how a player who was Man of the Match and Man of the Series in the previous series can’t play another game.”

“The thing is, you’re not treating Sooryavanshi right either. If you give him a chance in the next game, he’ll be thinking, ‘If I don’t score now, will they leave me out for the next game?’ That’s the problem. There are no clear signals,” Srikkanth said.

The former India coach signed off by saying that Sooryavanshi is a player the world is watching and benching him instead of supporting him is not the right attitude.

“Are you going to promote the boy? Are you going to protect and support him? You know very well that people want to watch Vaibhav Sooryavanshi bat. On the first day of the Duleep Trophy, the crowd went to the ground, but after that, hardly anyone came.”

“So Sooryavanshi is a player the whole world is watching. Can you bench such a player and discourage him? That is not right,” Srikkanth said.

The BCCI has laid out a long-term plan for Sooryavanshi to achieve sustained success, but perhaps the record should also give the fans what they want to see.

He’s a swashbuckling youngster who shows no mercy to bowlers, taking them on and smashing the ball all over the park. He has plenty of room to grow and potentially a huge career ahead of him.

But how he is used in the early stages of his Indian career may very well shape what comes next.

For now, though, one thing is clear: when Sooryavanshi walks out to bat, people watch. And if not, they’ll notice.

– The end

Published on:

15 Sep 2026 03:00 IST