Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran isn’t sweating much over 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, saying that his team has its plans ready come the first T20I against India on Sunday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
The left-handed batter was recently adjudged as Player of the Series in the contest against Zimbabwe, but one doesn’t know whether he would feature in the playing XI for the opener, considering Sanju Samson is also a part of the squad.
Sooryavanshi recently also featured in the Duleep Trophy final, which his team, East Zone, won after outclassing South Zone on the basis of a first innings lead. Earlier this year, the youngster earned a national call-up on the back of a phenomenal IPL, in which he scored 776 runs for the Rajasthan Royals.
However, his first outing in international cricket did not go as planned, and he was even dropped from the playing XI after three below-par scores. However, he played all three matches against Zimbabwe and opened the batting alongside Abhishek Sharma. He then returned with scores of 50, 20 and 81.
Zadran said that several players in his squad have faced Sooryavanshi in the IPL, and hence they have good knowledge of the promising player.
“He is an amazing talent. He performed really well in the IPL, and he has been performing across different levels of competitions. We talked about him, and we have that knowledge from the guys who played against him in the IPL,” said Zadran in the pre-match press conference on Saturday.
“We have watched his videos. We will try to keep it simple for ourselves and will look to execute our plans,” he added.
Captaincy factor
Earlier this year, Zadran was appointed as Afghanistan’s captain, taking over the reins from Rashid Khan. Ahead of the series opener against India, he said he is warming up to the role and that his communication and understanding with Rashid would stand him in good stead.
“It’s a big responsibility for me. As a player and captain, I’m trying to enjoy it, take responsibility and make the right decisions in pressure situations,” he said.
“We know the conditions really well. We just need to execute the plan as the situation warrants. We just try to give 100 per cent and think about the process. Hopefully, we’re going to have a good series,” he added.
This is the first time that Afghanistan are hosting India and the Shreyas Iyer-led side would occupy the away dressing room at the Arun Jaitley Stadium for all three T20Is.