Is India not treating its new superstar Vaibhav Sooryavanshi properly? Pundits react

When the sun was slowly setting and the lights were coming on at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday, September 13, fans had turned up in numbers to watch a 15-year-old sensation, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. He is the talk of the town for the way he bats and the fearless manner in which he takes on some of the world’s most feared bowlers.

The crowd has started to follow him in numbers, much like they did with young Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni. But as soon as the toss was done and the teams walked out, one big name was missing: Sooryavanshi.

The youngster came into the series on the back of an impressive T20I campaign in Zimbabwe, where he was named Player of the Series and also won the Player of the Match award in the final. The 15-year-old accumulated 151 runs during the tour at a strike rate of 196.10.

However, his preparations for the series were affected by his involvement in the Duleep Trophy final, with the youngster playing the red-ball game just two days before the opening T20I. He was one of three players from that final to make the transition into the series.

This may have been a reason for India holding Sooryavanshi back, but Mohammed Kaif and Kris Srikkanth weren’t convinced.

A STATE OF CONFUSION

Kaif, while talking to Cricbuzz, was clear in his assessment. India still haven’t figured out what their best combination is. The former cricketer said that Samson didn’t deserve to play in the first game and that the team management should have stuck with Abhishek Sharma and Sooryavanshi at the top.

He feels that the chopping and changing won’t do the team any good and claimed that Sooryavanshi himself may be wondering what he did wrong to be dropped.

“What did Sanju do to play the first T20I? When you are dropped from the team, you play in different tournaments to return to form, but nothing like that happened in Samson’s case. Why didn’t you opt for the Abhishek and Suryavanshi combination after the young batter did well in Zimbabwe?”

“They are not sure about their best opening combination. The Indian team is still thinking about their openers. Vaibhav must have felt bad as he didn’t do anything wrong. This could lead to confusion, which is not good for any team,” Kaif said on Cricbuzz.

Srikkanth isn’t a fan of how the team management has treated Samson and Sooryavanshi over the past few matches. Samson started the England series before making way for the youngster, only to return towards the end.

He was then dropped for the Zimbabwe series, with Sooryavanshi playing all three matches. Now, Samson seems to be back and Sooryavanshi is warming the bench.

Srikkanth said that if India are giving Sooryavanshi a go, they should stick with him for the next three series.

“Either give Sanju Samson a proper, full run and then drop him if it doesn’t work. Or similarly, give Vaibhav Sooryavanshi a proper chance for five or six matches. Don’t keep giving them chances in bits and pieces.”

“What will they do now? They will probably play Sooryavanshi in the next match. If he doesn’t score, they will drop him again.”

“If you have given Sooryavanshi a chance, you should tell him, “You will not be dropped for three series. Don’t worry about it. Just go and play your game,” said Srikkanth on his YouTube channel.

SOORYAVANSHI, THE CROWD PULLER

Sooryavanshi’s growing fandom was on full display during the Duleep Trophy final, when fans turned up to watch the boy wonder light up Chepauk with his aggressive batting.

Even on his India debut, Sooryavanshi reportedly had 3.4 crore viewers tuning in to watch him bat in England. Srikkanth revealed how his wife was angry to see the youngster left out on Sunday and that they simply switched channels.

“The moment Sooryavanshi wasn’t playing, we started watching something else. Even my wife asked me, ‘Sooryavanshi isn’t playing? What is this?'”

“She gets angry. She is asking how a player who was Man of the Match and Man of the Series in the previous series cannot play the next match.”

“The point is, you are not treating Sooryavanshi properly either. If you give him a chance in the next match, he will be thinking, ‘If I don’t score now, will they drop me for the next match?’ That is the problem. There are no clear signals,” said Srikkanth.

The former India selector signed off by saying Sooryavanshi is a player the whole world is watching and that putting him on the bench instead of backing him isn’t the right stance.

“Are you going to promote that boy? Are you going to protect and back him? You know very well that people want to watch Vaibhav Sooryavanshi bat. The crowd came to the ground on the first day of Duleep Trophy, but after that hardly anyone came.”

“So, Sooryavanshi is a player the entire world is watching. Can you put a player like that on the bench and discourage him? This is not right,” said Srikkanth.

The BCCI has laid out a long-term plan for Sooryavanshi to achieve sustained success, but perhaps the board should also give the fans what they want to see.

That’s the swashbuckling youngster showing no mercy to bowlers, taking them on and smashing the ball all over the park. He has plenty of room to grow and, potentially, a huge career ahead of him.

But how he is used in the early stages of his India career could very well shape what comes next.

For now, though, there is one thing that is clear: when Sooryavanshi walks out to bat, people watch. And when he doesn’t, they notice.

– Ends