Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s meteoric rise is set to reach its final crescendo, with the senior national team selectors reportedly confident that the 15-year-old prodigy is ready to make his senior debut for India. The only question that remains is not ‘if’ but ‘when’ and ‘where’ the young left-hander will break one of the most hallowed records in Indian cricket.
While Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has reportedly been named in the likely list for India’s upcoming tour of Ireland, the 15-year-old prodigy’s historic international debut is likely to take place later this year during the Asian Games or the home series against the West Indies, reports news agency PTI.
Sooryavanshi’s name has been included in the group of 35 T20 specialists who have reportedly been selected as likely for India’s T20I leg of the tour of Ireland in June-July. With his debut this year, Sooryavanshi will surpass Sachin Tendulkar to become India’s youngest ever senior men’s debutant, a feat he achieved just months before his 16th birthday.
Administrative requirements necessitated a broad list of likely ones.
“The selectors have been asked by the BCCI logistics department to list at least 35 names whose Irish visas need to be kept in order. Since the first port of entry for the Indian team will be Ireland and not England, a UK visa will not work. Each needs a separate Irish visa,” a BCCI source told PTI.
Vaibhav has been in sensational form across all formats of the game at the junior level and the IPL. The 15-year-old scored 200 runs in five matches with a staggering 263.
ENOUGH PROBLEM?
While the selection committee is said to be in consensus on the teenager’s readiness, the main obstacle remains the “abundance issue” at the top of the order. With the senior team coming off a successful T20 World Cup cycle, the starting slots are heavily fortified.
“The selection committee is confident that Vaibhav is ready, but then you talk about Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan. All three are half-centuries in the T20 World Cup final,” a source told PTI.
India’s embarrassment of riches means that bleeding a youngster, even one as gifted as Sooryavanshi, requires displacing established artists. The resource noted difficulties in the current hierarchy:
“Vaibhav is ready, but the national selectors have to give very good reasons to drop Abhishek or Sanju. Because if you drop either of them, the question becomes, how does Surya keep his place?”
Given these complications, while tours of Ireland and Zimbabwe remain on the table, the BCCI is eyeing a specific window in September as the most logical entry point for the youngster from Bihar.
Peg of the Asian Games
As India’s cricket calendar continues to get more crowded, there will be an overlap of tasks in September. India is expected to host the West Indies for the home T20I series while also sending a team to Japan for the Asian Games.
“It could be a tour of Britain or Zimbabwe. But the best platform could be the Asian Games or the West Indies home series as the two overlap, so there will be two T20 teams,” a BCCI source informed PTI.
This overlap creates a natural vacancy for Sooryavanshi to integrate into the national set-up without immediately disrupting the core of the first-choice T20 XI.
“Vaibhav will play one of the two, if not sooner,” added the source.
Whether it’s on the grassy shores of Belfast or the Asian Games, Indian cricket seems set to usher in the Sooryavanshi era and officially pass on the mantle of the youngest debutant from generation to generation.
– The end
Issued by:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
14 Apr 2026 17:56 IST
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