Last Updated on 2 hours ago by Charbel Coorey
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will have to wait a little longer for his opportunity after India opted not to select the teenage sensation for the first T20I against Ireland at Belfast. There was plenty of speculation that the 15-year-old will earn a debut, but Team India opted for experience.
India’s XI for the first T20I against Ireland: 1. Sanju Samson (wk), 2. Abhishek Sharma, 3. Ishan Kishan, 4. Shreyas Iyer (c), 5. Tilak Varma, 6. Shivam Dube, 7. Axar Patel, 8. Washington Sundar, 9. Harshit Rana, 10. Arshdeep Singh, 11. Prasidh Krishna
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi not selected for first T20I against Ireland
“Unfortunately, no,” said Shreyas Iyer at the toss when asked whether Sooryavanshi will play today. “He’ll get his opportunity when the time comes. For now we’re going with three genuine seamers, one all-rounder.”
Earlier, batting coach Sitanshu Kotak said India shouldn’t drop someone just to fit Sooryavanshi in the XI.
“I am sure that he will get his dues and his opportunities,” Kotak said, as quoted by cricbuzz. “So I don’t think that just to give him an opportunity, we should drop someone who has already been scoring runs. That also won’t be right.
“Obviously, it depends on the team management… what we plan to do in this match. That is a different thing. But I think it is a very thin line between trying to give somebody an opportunity and you being unfair to some other player.”
That being said, Sooryavanshi is widely tipped to become the youngest-ever player to feature for the Indian national team. The current record is held by the great Sachin Tendulkar, who debuted at 16 years and 205 days.
Sooryavanshi won selection for India’s squad for the tours of Ireland and England after a magnificent IPL 2026 campaign. The Rajasthan Royals opener hammered 776 runs in 16 innings at a strike rate of 237.30, smashing a record 72 sixes in the process.
