15-year-old bids for a record-breaking India debut against England
Chester-Le-Street : Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s eagerly-awaited debut and the thoroughly exposed batting frailties on challenging wickets dominate the discourse on India as they take on England in a five-match T20 International series starting here on Wednesday.
India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has said that Sooryavanshi will have to “go through the process and bide his time” like any other cricketer to get a place in the eleven. At the same time, he had no hesitation in declaring that the 15-year-old swashbuckler seems ready for the grind.
But it remains to be seen whether the management will hold firm on its resolve that Sooryavanshi must follow the process amid the growing clamour to blood the explosive hitter.
Ten Doeschate was candid enough to admit that there is disbelief in the camp after being whitewashed 0-2 by Ireland last week and it could well become the trigger for drastic action.
The twin failure of Sanju Samson against Ireland offers them a perfect excuse to bench the opener and pair Sooryavanshi with Abhishek Sharma, who could be saved by that 20-ball 49 in the first T20I at Belfast.
It could end up being the move that gives the visitors a strong start against England in the five-match series.
Ishan Kishan also did not cover himself in glory during the two-match series against Ireland and was dismissed for 1, 12.
So, the management can bench any of those two to accommodate Sooryavanshi but they will ponder the possible effect such a move can have on the morale of the omitted batter.
If one takes the case of Samson, he had a wonderful run in the back-end of the T20 World Cup earlier this year and also scored two centuries for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.
However, the think tank led by chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar and head coach Gautam Gambhir is not averse to taking some harsh calls, and those in doubt can re-read the Suryakumar Yadav story.
They also handed debuts to Suryansh Shedge and Prince Yadav against Ireland, leaving Sooryavanshi waiting for his national cap.
