‘I don’t care if Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is 15’: Ravi Shastri’s clear instructions to BCCI

Tonight, the 15-year-old is back in action against Delhi Capitals. Shastri’s words should encourage him to smash more records.

Updated on: May 17, 2026, 16:01:05 IST

Written by Prateek Srivastava

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Ravi Shastri has come out aggressively in support of teenage Indian star Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and wants him to debut for India without delay.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi looks absolutely ready for his India debut. (AP)

15-year-old Sooryavanshi has been a devastating force in white-ball cricket in the last couple of years, and he has scored two centuries in the IPL, where some of the top bowlers have bowled to him. Despite his great run, many have advocated that he should prove himself a little more before the selectors bestow the India debut on him. Shastri disagrees -- strongly.

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“A lot of people will ask, is he 15, is he 16, is he 14? I don't care. I just see the way he is batting at the moment and the way he's taking on all comers twice his age or maybe two and a half times his age. It doesn't matter to him," Shastri told host Sanjana Ganesan on the latest episode of The ICC Review.

“So I think he's very, very much in the reckoning. And when you have tours of Ireland [in June for 2 T20Is] and all this happening now, I would be looking into him straight away.

“I can tell you that, for sure, because if you want to encourage or get someone young and into the setup as quickly as possible, then it's the T20 format of the game, and he is not short by any margin.

“This guy can walk into a lot of sides in world cricket at this current moment in time. Just when you look at the exuberance of youth, that youth shows on his face."

His records say it all!

Sooryavanshi has recently been added to the India A squad for an ODI tri-series, involving hosts Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, from June 9-21. Later that month, the Indian team travels to Ireland for 2 T20Is before flying to England for a five-T20I and a three-ODI series.

Sooryavanshi has scored 440 runs so far in IPL 2026 in 11 games at an average of 40 and a strike rate of 236.56, including a 103 off 37 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad. He has hit six 40 sixes, maximum by any this season.

Last year, he had scored a 35-ball century against Gujarat Titans. In the Under-19 World Cup final earlier this year, he scored 175 off just 80 balls in Harare as the Indian team comfortably beat England. He is also the youngest in world cricket to score a List A hundred playing for Bihar last year.

Tonight, he is back in action against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Ahead of the match, Shastri's words should encourage him to smash some more records.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prateek Srivastava
Prateek Srivastava is a senior sports journalist having been in the profession for two decades now. He started his print career with the India Today Group and later also worked for the Asian Age. In 2009, sensing the wind of change, he switched to the digital media and joined Mobile ESPN. There, he covered the 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2010 Hockey World Cup as a venue reporter. He did plenty of voice-over work too, over there. After leaving Mobile ESPN, Prateek went on to work for Cricketnext, Gocricket and Cricbuzz. At Gocricket (Times Internet Limited), he covered the 2014 T20 World from Bangladesh. There he also received a team leadership award, given at the end of the month. Prateek has also covered the 2016 T20 World Cup in India, this time working for Sportz Interactive. He also worked for Chinese giants Alibaba over two years and led their ""Short News"" content team at UC Browser. While cricket is Prateek’s expertise, he has also done a lot of golf. In fact, he has covered India’s first two European Tour events back in the late noughties. He has also done extensive writing on football having been associated with the Indian Super League for three seasons. Finally, Prateek is a literature aficionado and swears by Philip Roth and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and when he doesn’t joke, he is usually quiet and at work.Read More

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