No Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, no match: Indian fans furious after prodigy backs out again

Indian cricket fans were beside themselves with rage as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was once again dropped from the playing XI for the 2nd T20I between Afghanistan and India. India made just one change to the side with Ravi Bishnoi coming in for the injured Varun Chakravarthy.

AFG vs IND 2nd T20I Update

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi wasted little time in establishing himself at the international level, maintaining a remarkable strike rate of 189.21 in his first six T20I innings. The 15-year-old also comes into the Afghanistan series with plenty of momentum from the Zimbabwe tour. Sooryavanshi was named player of the series after scoring 151 runs at a staggering strike rate of 196.10, while also winning the Man of the Match award in the series finale.

Sooryavanshi was seen taking part in fielding drills, giving hope to fans who thronged the Arun Jaitley Stadium hoping to see the youngster play.

Despite this, Sanju Samson was selected for the first T20I and failed to make the most of his chance as he was dismissed for 10. It was interesting to see if India would bring the 15-year-old back into the mix, but they decided to resist the temptation.

But that didn’t go down well with the Indian fans, who vented their frustration on social media. Many fans said that they are not watching the match because Sooryavanshi is not playing. Some even called for a boycott of the match.

Others criticized Gautam Gambhir for not giving the youngster enough chances in the playing XI, especially when he was in good form.

IS INDIA SOORYAVANSHI BAD?

Former India coach Kris Srikkanth has revealed the influence he had on him and his wife Sooryavanshi. Srikkanth said they switched channels the moment it was known that the youngster was not acting.

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

“He is angry. He is asking how a player who was Man of the Match and Man of the Series in the previous series cannot play another match,” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel after the 1st T20I.

Srikkanth said that the treatment of Sooryavanshi by the Indian team management it hasn’t been great and they aren’t giving him good signals at the moment.

“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.

It will be interesting to see if India will give Sooryavanshi a chance to play in the T20I final.

– The end

Published on:

15 Sep 2026 19:49 IST