After missing the two-match T20I series against Ireland, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is not playing in the first India vs England T20I at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street.
India lost the two-match series against Ireland 2-0, and it raised calls for Sooryavanshi’s inclusion. The two openers who played in the Ireland series, Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma, could not perform well. Samson scored 5 and 0, while Abhishek scored 49 and 0. However, India have persisted with both. It shows that India are backing their proven performers, who won them the T20 World Cup, a thought process that has been reiterated by several members of the team management in the recent past.
At the toss, India captain Shreyas Iyer said: “We’ll bat first. It’s a great opportunity for us. My second series as captain, pretty much excited. Got what we wanted, had a session of practice to acclimatise yesterday. It’s fine (the mood in the dressing room),” Iyer said. “The Ireland series is history. There’s a pretty decent amount of grass on the wicket. Can’t predict how it’s going to play, but definitely the intent is going to be high. Going with three spinners.”
When India great Sunil Gavaskar was asked about the impact that a long wait for a debut can have on Sooryavanshi, he replied: “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.”
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 the competition’s MVP.
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 old on 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 old when he made his Test debut in 1989 and 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 old when he made his Test debut for Pakistan in 1996.
India (Playing XI): Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy
England (Playing XI): Philip Salt, Jos Buttler(w), Harry Brook(c), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Saqib Mahmood, Adil Rashid, Luke Wood
At the pre-match press conference, Iyer clearly mentioned that they were backing the players who won India the T20 World Cup 2026. “Look, all the players in the team have performed well, it’s not that only one individual has performed well,” Iyer told the reporters on the eve of the first T20I on Tuesday.
“But we have to build that opportunity and security, so that each individual has confidence going forward into the tournaments. The players who have won the last World Cup, definitely have an idea of how to play T20, and continuously they have been the main pillars of that format so it’s very important to back them,” Iyer said.
The 15-year-old was in stellar form in the IPL before scoring a match winning 94 off 29 balls for India A in Sri Lanka.
“He should have played (against Ireland). The team management has to see how it should place him in the playing eleven. Sometimes tough calls have to be made. Give some senior players rest and he might get his opportunity. If you are building the team for the future, then a rotation policy must come into play. Then you have to sit some players out and give them an opportunity,” former selector Sarandeep Singh told PTI.