‘What mistake did Vaibhav Sooryavanshi make?’: World Cup winner blasts Shreyas Iyer, Gautam Gambhir

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Gautam Gambhir and Shreyas Iyer (BCCI Photo) NEW DELHI: Former India captain Kris Srikkanth has come down heavily on the Indian team management for the way 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was treated during the T20I tour of Ireland and England.Sooryavanshi did not get a match in the Ireland series and was later drafted into the playing eleven against England after Sanju Samson struggled for runs. However, after playing three matches, the youngster was again dropped for the fifth and final T20I. India lost the five-match series 0-4. Srikkanth said he was particularly unhappy with captain Shreyas Iyer’s explanation for the change in the toss ahead of the final T20I.At the toss, Iyer defended his decision saying, “I feel now is the time for us to try what’s best for us as a team. So based on that, we’ve decided like this.”Srikkanth did not like this remark.“I was so upset with the interview after the toss,” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.He questioned the team’s approach to young players and said the same standards should apply to everyone in the set-up.“You don’t talk like that. What matters is how you treat your players, how you build a young team. If this is the way forward, the way forward is to change everyone (the management group). He said we want to take the best way forward. If you are willing to drop players based on their performance, the same yardstick should apply to Gautam Gambhir, but the same applies to your players. Are you not saying what you should pay for the captain?”Sooryavanshi was brought into the side after Sanju Samson, the player of the tournament in this year’s T20 World Cup, failed to score in three consecutive innings. The teenager scored 14 in Manchester, 13 in Nottingham and 15 in Bristol before being dropped from the final match.Srikkanth asked what the young man had done wrong.“What did Vaibhav Sooryavanshi do wrong? Is this how you bring up young players?”The former India spinner compared the situation to his own experience as a captain when he handed a 16-year-old Sachin Tendulkar his international debut during the 1989 tour of Pakistan.He said supporting a young player is crucial to building confidence.“Shreyas Iyer said at the toss ‘we want to go back to the best possible’. Is that your best way forward? What is this conversation? If you thought Sanju Samson was the best fit, you should have gone ahead with him. Why bring in Vaibhav and then let him go? Why are you ruining his future? You are all destroying his confidence. When I was told that Sachin Tendulou6, I was dropped’ at Sachin Tenduluk6, I was planted at the table, you play this tour fearlessly.”Srikkanth said the current management should have shown the same faith in Sooryavanshi instead of dropping him after just three matches.“Shouldn’t Gambhir and Shreyas have given Sooryavanshi that kind of trust? This is not fair. I am very upset with the way they are treating Vaibhav Sooryavanshi,” he said.