Question by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi: Why the popular choice is not Gambhir’s call

On a weekday evening in Delhi, with India already sealing the T20I series against Afghanistan, fans were still queuing up for the final. They came hoping to see one particular player.

Twenty minutes before Thursday’s toss, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi walked out towards the boundary rope to bowl. Almost immediately, fans sitting in the stands began rushing to the fence, hoping to catch a glimpse of the 15-year-old batsman.

There were also whispers on the ground, that Sooryavanshi might finally get his chance. He didn’t play in either of the first two games. India won both. With the streak already in the bag, Game 3 seemed like the obvious moment to unleash the teenager.

IND vs AFG, 3rd T20I: MAIN | SCORECARD

The fans thought so. Journalists covering the team thought so. It would be a popular call.

It was not India’s call.

Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma walked out to open again. And then he made 142 to open the partnership with Abhishek scored a 30-ball century, the fastest by an Indian in T20Is. He finished the series with 228 runs. Samson ended the series with two fifties on his return to the side. And Sooryavanshi was watching all this from the dressing room.

That moment at the Arun Jaitley Stadium captured the strange place Sooryavanshi now occupies in Indian cricket. The teenager has become such an impressive attraction that his absence from the playing XI has become a topic in itself. The expectation around him is no longer just that he will play for India. The point is that whenever the opportunity arises, India should make room for him. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi did not play a single match in the 3-match T20I series vs Afghanistan. (Photo: PTI)

But leading the Indian team, as Samson said during the series, is not that simple.

“Leading the Indian team is not an easy thing,” Samson said on Tuesday. “It’s not easy to make tough decisions. It’s easy to make popular decisions, but as a leadership group they made some really tough calls and kept the team first.”

Because this isn’t really a story about India choosing Samson over Sooryavanshi. It’s about the leadership group being willing to make the difficult call even when the easier one is staring them in the face.

The selection story has been making the rounds for months.

When India won the T20 World Cup, Samson and Abhishek were the opening pair. They were part of a team that went through the tournament undefeated and lifted the trophy. Three matches later, Samson, who was the player of the tournament in the World Cup, was dropped and Sooryavanshi was accommodated.

It was an understandable decision given the teenager’s extraordinary rise. Sooryavanshi had just produced a spectacular IPL season, winning the Orange Cap and the excitement around him was growing with every innings.

But three games later, Sooryavanshi himself was back on the bench during India’s difficult tour of England and Ireland.

For a while, India’s T20 selection seemed caught between two competing impulses: to preserve the combination that delivered the World Cup or to make room for the country’s most exciting young batsman.

Zimbabwe offered a cleaner response. Samson was rested, Sooryavanshi played all three matches and took advantage of the opportunity. He finished the series as player of the series, adding another layer to the expectation that he should be a permanent part of India’s plans.

This expectation followed him to Delhi.

By the time Afghanistan arrived, Sooryavanshi was no longer just a talented teenager waiting for his chance. He was a fan favorite. His mere presence near the border could send viewers scrambling for the fence.

And this is where the choice is difficult. The public sees the possibility. The team must see the combination.

Samson understood this better than the others. He was the player who made way for Sooryavanshi earlier in the year. Yet there was no bitterness in his explanation. Instead, he acknowledged why the group’s management called.

VAIBHAV HAS TO WAIT: GAMBHIR

That’s exactly the argument Gautam Gambhir finally made it in Delhi.

“From Vaibhav’s point of view, it’s again a very clear conversation that he has to wait for his opportunity,” Gambhir said.

“We know the kind of talent he has. We know what he can do. But again, someone who has done extremely well for a number of years is obviously always going to be ahead of someone who has made the team. Anytime he gets that chance, you’re going to have a longer chance.”

There is something significant about the clarity of this message. India is not saying that Sooryavanshi is not ready. They don’t question his talent. They don’t want him to prove himself again. They ask him to wait. Does Gambhir have a set plan for Sooryavanshi’s return to the side? (Photo: PTI)

“And that’s what Indian cricket is all about. We want competition, we want that talent in the dressing room. But sometimes that’s how it goes in cricket. Whether it’s a 15-year-old or a 30-year-old, you have to wait for the opportunity,” he added.

Sooryavanshi might be 15. He might have already achieved things that most players never do. He can have followers who can turn a routine drop into a mini-event. But none of that, says Gambhir, automatically gives him a place in the playing XI.

HARDEST CALL OF GAMBHIR’S CAREER

And the same logic applies to Samson.

Gambhir admitted that dropping him for the England series was “probably the toughest decision I’ve made in my coaching career”. Nevertheless, his thinking was not complicated. He wanted to get back to the combination that won India the World Cup.

“Those guys (Samson and Abhishek) don’t become bad players after three or four failures,” Gambhir said. “If a team that went from one World Cup to the next undefeated and won a World Cup. All of a sudden they became a team after one streak and those guys don’t become bad players.”

It is the rejection of recency as the sole criterion of selection. Gambhir has the toughest selection dilemma ft Vaibhav, Sanju and Abhishek. (Photo: AP, PTI)

Vaibhav’s recent form can be spectacular without automatically erasing Samson’s work. Samson can fail for a few matches without suddenly becoming a bad player for a combination that has already brought India the biggest prize.

That is the unpleasant part of managing the Indian team. The popular decision is often obvious. It’s the one that creates excitement, satisfies expectations and gives the crowd the player they came to see. A difficult decision requires something else: the willingness to disappoint people who have every reason to be excited.

Sooryavanshi gets his chance. Gambhir has now said the same, promising that the youngster will have a longer run when it comes.

Until then, there will be questions. Debates will take place every time the playing XI is announced. More fans are likely to rush towards the boundary whenever Sooryavanshi lifts the bat. That noise probably won’t go away. But after the confusion of the last few months, at least there is clarity now.

Fans will be waiting for Sooryavanshi. They’ll keep moving toward the fence when he comes out with the bat, and they’ll keep wondering when the next chance will come.

For now, however, the answer is simple: not yet. India has made it clear. And for a team that has spent the last few months searching for different combinations, clarity may be the most important thing they’ve found.

– The end

Issued by:

Debodinna Chakraborty

Published on:

18 Sep 2026 12:30 PM IST