Ajinkya Rahane challenges Vaibhav Sooryavanshi after lukewarm start to India career: ‘International cricket is not IPL’

Ajinkya Rahane urges patience with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, saying international cricket is a different challenge and it's too early to judge his Test future.

Ajinkya Rahane feels it’s too early to judge whether Vaibhav Sooryavanshi should play Test cricket for India after the teenager’s mixed outings in England and Zimbabwe. Sooryavanshi was endorsed for Test cricket by none other than the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, not too long ago. And when India’s squad for the Ireland and England T20Is was announced, Sooryavanshi became the youngest Indian player to be named in the 15. Ajit Agarkar, the BCCI’s chairman of selectors, admitted that the committee was left with no other option but to pick him.

Ajinkya Rahane, left, is unsure about Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's Test aspirations of now. (AFP Images)

However, with scores of 14, 13, 15, 50, 20 and 81, it’s safe to say that Sooryavanshi has had a lukewarm start to his India career. With the world waiting for the youngster’s India debut, that moment finally arrived in Manchester, but in the three games that he played against England, Sooryavanshi flattered to deceive. The balls that he would usually smack away to the boundary for fun, were now climbing onto him, with Jofra Archer’s pace unsettling his Rajasthan Royals teammate on more than one occasion.

It’s clear that Sooryavanshi has found international cricket slightly more challenging than the IPL, where earlier this year, he finished with the Orange Cap, blasting 776 runs. Rahane appeared circumspect of Sooryavanshi’s Test ambitions and challenged them with a dose of reality check.

‘Don’t want to put him under pressure’

“It's tough to say or comment on right now,” Rahane said on whether Sooryavanshi will play Test cricket for India, while speaking on the Stick to Cricket Podcast featuring David Lloyd, Phil Tufnell, and former England captains Alastair Cook and Michael Vaughan.

“I don't want to say anything and put pressure on that young kid. Because people are already talking a lot about him. It’s just two IPL seasons. What I’ve realised is that IPL and international cricket are completely different. The pressure when you represent your country is enormous. Chasing 70 runs in IPL in 4, 5 overs easy. Chasing the same amount of runs in international cricket is different. So, let him just play his game, let him just grow.”

In Zimbabwe, Sooryavanshi seemed to find his footing, but even there, he wasn’t at his rollicking best. He scored a half-century in the first T20I, got out for 20 in the second and finally played like the world is used to watching him bat, in the dead rubber, with a blistering knock of 81. Still, the fact that he took 49 balls to get there is very uncharacteristic of Sooryavanshi, who, not too long ago, was on the verge of scoring the fastest IPL century.