At 15 years and 99 days, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi became the youngest Indian to debut in international cricket, leaving behind the great Sachin Tendulkar at 16 years and 205 days, when he walked out to open in the company of Abhishek Sharma in the second T20I at Manchester.
India had to play him somehow. The pressure was mounting on the team management. Like chief selector Ajit Agarkar said at the time of selecting him in the squad last month that Sooryavanshi had forced his way into the team, he had forced his way into the Playing XI on Saturday. So, what did we learn about him after his maiden outing?
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First, that his hype is real and that he is here to stay. Jofra Archer steamed in against Abhishek Sharma in the first over of the innings. He banged it a bit short, angling away from the former world number one batsman. Archer beat him multiple times as Abhishek tried to cut him hard on the offside.
When Archer came up against Sooryavanshi in his next over, he was dispatched for a huge six over deep fine leg. Both play for the same franchise in the Indian Premier League, Rajasthan Royals, and there ought to be some familiarity with each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Sooryavanshi started to move away to the leg side, and Archer followed him. Sooryavanshi sat on one knee and sent it over the boundary.
Sooryavanshi didn’t take too long to prove that he was ready for international cricket. That all the stories that we had been hearing about him weren’t old wives’ tales. In the next over, Josh Tongue was meted out the same treatment. The ball was into him a little full and a little slow, and Sooryavanshi pounced on it like a lion lying in wait. It sailed over deep midwicket. Like Archer, Tongue is a high-quality bowler. It was his first T20I for England, but in the Test matches for them, he has been their most consistent since the departure of Jamie Anderson and Stuart Broad.
Now the downside!
Now, what does Sooryavanshi need to work on? He needs to be a bit more patient. There was no need for him to step out and go for a wild swing on the offside. That was the plan from Will Jacks, and Sooryavanshi walked into the trap just like that. Since it was his first game, he could have taken a little longer to get used to the spin.
All in all, Sooryavanshi impressed. It was not exactly a batting-friendly pitch. After the powerplay got over, India really slowed down, and the number one T20I batter in the world, Ishan Kishan, took 40 balls to score 49. The ball was swinging and seaming, and the batsmen in the sub-continent have traditionally struggled in such conditions. So considering that, Sooryavanshi had a very impressive debut even though it just lasted 10 balls for 14 runs. He is going to play in the remainder of the five-game series for sure, and while it’s not exactly seemly to make predictions in cricket, in one of the matches, he should, on the evidence of his maiden outing, really put the English bowlers to the sword.