Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is yet to play a single international match on Indian soil and is unlikely to start in the playing 11 in five-match T20I series vs West Indies from Tuesday.
Published: October 5, 2026, 12:34 PM IST
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Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in action during Asian Games 2026 final vs Pakistan(Photo: IANS)
IND vs WI 2026 1st T20: Team India will begin a five-match T20I series against West Indies at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on TuesdayBut question on every Indian cricket fan’s mind is whether Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will finally get an opportunity to play his first international match on Indian soilIn his short international career, Sooryavanshi has turned out in 8 T20I matches for India but all of them have been outside the country.
The 15-year-old returned to the Indian Playing 11 in the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya after spending all his time on the bench in the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan in New Delhi last monthWith Shreyas Iyer’s side set to begin a T20I series against West Indies on Tuesday, Sooryavanshi might well be consigned to the bench once again.
Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir opened up about Sooryavanshi, claiming ‘social media doesn’t decide the playing 11’Speaking on JioStar’s ‘Follow the Blues: Gautam Gambhir Unfiltered’, Gambhir said, “It was a new experience for me as wellYes, he was in good form, but I made him understand that sometimes, because of the players who have done well for a long time, he will have to wait for his opportunityAnd there’s one more thing, social media or outside noise doesn’t decide the playing 11.
“It depends on who in that dressing room, or who the coach and captain feel can win us the match, or what is the best playing eleven, and who have done well for such a long timeBecause if Vaibhav plays today, then it’s going to be a tough conversation between me and whoever we leave out, whether it’s Abhishek or whether it’s SanjuSo, we can’t suddenly ignore a combination that has created such an impact over the last one and a half or two years, and after three or four failures, drop them and play a young player who is very talented, who is also in very good formSo, sometimes you will have to wait for your opportunity because we want to create that security in that dressing room,” Gambhir said about Sooryavanshi.
The Bihar teenager, who was retained for Rs 1.1 crore by Rajasthan Royals, has scored 246 runs in 8 T20I matches for India at an average of 30.75 and a striker-rate of 186.36 with 2 fifties so farSooryavanshi scored 38 and 15 in the semifinal and final of the men’s cricket event at the Asian Games 2026.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi touched Jay Shah’s feet when Jay Shah came to congratulate all the Indian players after India won the Asian Games gold medal.
This 15-year-old kid is more mature than Jehadi Saim Ayub and the entire country of Pakistanhttps://t.co/EGJlmcJhZr
— TEJASH (@Tejashyy) October 3, 2026
Gambhir also revealed the admirable qualities of Indian T20I captain Shreyas Iyer“My first experience with Shreyas was when I actually went to KKR in 2024 where he was obviously captainingAnd the best thing I liked about Shreyas was that he was actually willing to leave his batting position at timesHe was so flexible that he was okay if someone went ahead of himAnd it happens very rarely that a captain, who is probably your main batter as well, sacrifices his position for the team’s cause, whether for someone else for impact or from a left-right combination point of view.
“And that is when I realised that the first and foremost quality of a good leader is how selfless you areShreyas has that quality, and that is a massive tick that he can carry for the rest of his journey as a captainBecause you can be hardworking, you can be disciplined, you can be fit, you can be the number one batterBut if you are not selfless, then all those other things stand for nothingBut Shreyas has got all of those things, and on top of that, he’s got that selflessness as well,” Team India head coach added.
Gautam Gambhir puts faith in Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson
Sooryavanshi’s presence in the Team India squad has put pressure of the Indian opening pair of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju SamsonThe latter had a forgettable time in the Asian Games 2026, failing to get into double figures.
But Gambhir put faith in both Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson ahead of the T20I series vs West Indies.
“It is very easy for me to take popular decisions, but it is probably the toughest thing for me to take the right decisionsAnd we’ve taken the right decision of continuing with Sanju and AbhishekAnd no team in the history of sport has gone undefeated from one World Cup to the other and gone on to win the World Cup againSuddenly, one bad series or three bad games here and there does not make them a bad player or does not make us a bad sideSo, it was very important for us to have that continuity,” Gambhir said.
