Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is awaiting his senior debut.© Getty
July 1 did not bring the much-awaited good news for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. India yet again left out the 15-year-old prodigy for the first T20I of the five-match T20 series against England. Sooryavanshi was a compelling option at the top of the order, though. He was picked in the squad for the tour of Ireland and England after scoring 776 runs in 16 innings in the 2026 Indian Premier League and being voted as the competition’s MVP.
Indian cricket great Sunil Gavaskar felt that the wait for a debut might put Sooryavanshi under more pressure.
“It will put him under more pressure whenever he gets an opportunity. But at 15 years of age, you don’t think too much about pressure. He knows that if he gets the opportunity in the second or third game, he will have to deliver almost immediately. That’s there. But he is happy to be around. This Indian team is full of lovely, tremendous players, and it is just fantastic for him to be learning from them,” Gavaskar said on Sony Sports.
If he makes his debut later in the series, Sooryavanshi – who is aged 15 years and 96 days – will become the youngest player to feature in a top-tier men’s T20. Ireland’s Joshua Little holds the record – he was 16 years and 309 days in his debut in the format.
Sooryavanshi would become the youngest-ever player in India’s senior men’s team. The great Sachin Tendulkar was 16 years and 205 days when he made his test debut in 1989, then made his ODI debut 33 days later.
The youngest-ever player in men’s international cricket remains Hasan Raza, who was 14 years and 227 days when he made his test debut for Pakistan in 1996.
India, coming off a 0-2 series loss to Ireland, made a poor start as they slipped to 6 for two but half-centuries from skipper Shreyas Iyer (68) and Abhishek Sharma (59) propelled them to a competitive total.
Shivam Dube struck a late 21-ball 42 not out. Saqib Mahmood was the pick of England bowlers, returning 4-0-33-3.
With agency inputs
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