At 15 years and 99 days, teen sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi became the youngest Indian debutant across formats; however, his maiden outing in the Indian jersey lasted just 10 balls as he was stumped on 14 in the 2nd T20I against England in Manchester on Saturday (Jul 4).
Having smashed two brilliant sixes, one off Jofra Archer and the second off another debutant Josh Tongue early in the innings, Sooryavanshi tried making room for a boundary on the off-side to spinner Will Jacks, only to miss the straight one, with Jos Buttler completing the stumping. Vaibhav’s much-anticipated debut ended in a hurry, as his opening partner, Abhishek Sharma, followed him soon after on 43.
The crowd and the internet soon after erupted in joy after India handed a debut cap to Sooryavanshi ahead of the start of the Manchester T20I, benching Sanju Samson. Middle-order batter Tilak Varma handed him his dream India cap, as Sooryavanshi looked ready to embrace his new journey.
He walked out to bat with Abhishek to the loudest cheer from the crowd. Although express pace and movement kept the two silent at the start, Vaibhav had other plans.
Taking on his Rajasthan Royals teammate Archer in his second over, Vaibhav smashed the first ball to a lovely six on the fine leg area before middling one to Tongue in the cow corner in the next over. He planned to continue his aggressive onslaught against Jacks, who was smart to pitch it short and slightly wider, only for Vaibhav to miss it and get out stumped on 14.
Abhishek and Iyer back to the hut
His opening partner, Abhishek, however, looked in sublime touch. Following his record-breaking fifty in the series opener in Durham, where he became the quickest to 100 T20I sixes (ball-wise), Abhishek continued from where he left off. He clobbered eight fours and a six before falling on 43 on the last ball of the powerplay.
Indian captain Shreyas Iyer and the ranked number one T20I batter, Ishan Kishan, steadied the Indian innings before Liam Dawson broke the stand by dismissing Iyer caught on 37 off 22 balls. India’s scorecard following Iyer’s dismissal read 130 for 3 in 13 overs.