Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar isn't pleased with the performance of the Men in Blue against Ireland, where the visitors were blanked 2-0 in the two-match series. Shreyas Iyer got off to a horrible start as the new T20I skipper as India failed to leave a mark in his first series as the captain. However, the biggest talking point remains the 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's non-debut. The young left-handed batter was made to wait for his first international cap as the management showed faith in the T20 World Cup-winning duo of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson.
However, Gavaskar has seen enough. After India's narrow one-run loss in the second T20I in Belfast, the legendary batter ordered the team management to hand Sooryavanshi his debut in the first T20I against England in Durham on Wednesday, July 1.
Gavaskar said that the management should drop one middle-order batter, but Sooryavanshi needs to play in the first match against England, given what he did for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL earlier this year.
“For a month, I had been saying that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi could have played both games because of his form. In one match, you could have had Abhishek Sharma opening the batting and Sanju Samson in the other with Sooryavanshi. But it has not happened. I am not saying Vaibhav would have won you the match. Even he might have gotten out after scoring 10-15 runs. But, if you had to try a young player, these two matches were the ideal opportunity,” Gavaskar told Aaj Tak.
“No [you can't wait any longer]. You should play him from the first game in England. It's as straightforward as that. Keep the out-of-form batters on the bench and play Sooryavanshi. That's it. Either you play him as the opener or at No. 3, but he has to play the first match of the England series, which is on July 1,” he added.
‘Rattle England’
{{/usCountry}}“No [you can't wait any longer]. You should play him from the first game in England. It's as straightforward as that. Keep the out-of-form batters on the bench and play Sooryavanshi. That's it. Either you play him as the opener or at No. 3, but he has to play the first match of the England series, which is on July 1,” he added.
‘Rattle England’
{{/usCountry}}Gavaskar added that Sooryavanshi's debut will rattle England, and this is now the need of the hour, given what happened in Ireland, where India failed to chase down scores in both matches despite opting to do so.
“It can happen. The opening partnership of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma have played really well. So, dropping them after two matches is not right. But you can drop a batter from the middle-order. So, you can play Sooryavanshi at No. 3. But, on July 1, you have to play him. If you want to shock England, then you have to play him. He might fail, but if he gets going, England will be rattled,” said the 1983 World Cup winner.
Earlier, Sooryavanshi smashed the fastest List-A fifty off just 11 balls, and this knock just came days before the first T20I against Ireland. However, the management stuck to their guns and went with Abhishek and Samson.
Sooryavanshi is expected to have his own changing room in the UK, as required by existing English rules regarding U-16 players across sports.