India vs New Zealand 2026 T20: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is only 15 years ofage and has already been pushed into cauldron of international cricket at this young age.
Sooryavanshi became the youngest-ever cricketer to play T20I for India when he made his debut against England earlier this year.
While Sooryavanshi can be a prodigy with the bat, one area of his game which needs serious improvement is his fielding. The Rajasthan Royals opener often plays as an ‘Impact Sub’ which means he hardly needs to be on the field for majority of the matches.
Former India fielding coach R. Sridhar believes the ‘Impact Player’ maybe hurting Sooryavanshi’s development as a quality fielder and can lead to potential mishap on the field in international cricket.
“I mean, although he’s (Sooryavanshi) in an international elite environment where athletes are aware of what they need to do and how they need to manage their workloads. But someone as young as 15 sometimes needs to be told,” Sridhar told India.com during an exclusive interaction facilitated by Sony Sports Network ahead of India’s five-match T20I series vs New Zealand.
“I think someone has to make a full schedule for Sooryavanshi, where he has to put plenty of work in practice sessions and get himself ready. If you are being subbed out for your fielding, it is not a good sign,” Sridhar said about Sooryavanshi.
The Bihar opener, who was retained for Rs 1.1 crore by Rajasthan Royals ahead of IPL 2026 season, won the Orange Cap this year with 776 runs in 16 matches at a strike-rate of 237.3 with 1 hundred and 5 fifties.
He has turned out in 8 T20I matches for Team India till date and scored 246 runs at a strike-rate of 186.36 with two fifties. Sooryavanshi is set to make his maiden trip to New Zealand for the five-match T20I series beginning in Christchurch on October 22.
“I think by 18 or 19, you would want Vaibhav to evolve as a very, very good fielder. We saw him drop a catch in the Asian Games 2026 final against Pakistan which almost led to major mishap. Someone needs to make to make sure that he is doing fielding practice everyday. It is very clear from my part that he has to work very hard on his fielding, and someone has to tell that to him,” Sridhar felt.
Big concern when you are dropping so many catches: R. Sridhar
India’s former fielding coach raised concern over the falling standards of Indian fielding. In 29 T20I games in 2026 alone, Shreyas Iyer’s side have dropped 50 catches. “It’s sure as hell a reason for concern when you’re dropping so many catches and I’m sure the team management and the team themselves are more keen on working on it than you and me talking about it. So, I’m sure they’ll come up with strategies and plans and practices to improve that catching efficiency. So let’s back them. Let’s see how they’re going to adapt in the remaining matches,” Sridhar said.
Asked about the suggested changes that the Team India support staff can introduce, Sridhar said, “Obviously the measurable improvements means somebody has to quantify the fielding the speed of the throw from the boundary line, the speed of the fielder from the time the ball is hit to reach the ball. We have the reaction time of the fielders for a sharp catch. And then the other easy measurables are the catches converted, run saved, run out opportunities created, run out opportunities converted, direct percentage.”
After the five-match T20I series against West Indies concludes in Chennai on October 18, Team India will need for a quick turnaround as they head of New Zealand to play in the first game in 4 day’s time.