Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin backed Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s inclusion in the Indian T20I squad for the tour of Ireland and England, but added that he believes that the teenager might have been introduced to international cricket sooner than necessary. The 15-year-old featured in the second T20I against England, marking the beginning of his international career. Across the three matches he played, the left-hander registered scores of 14, 13, and 15 before being dropped for the fifth and final T20I in Southampton.
Sharing his perspective, Ashwin said that the overseas tours should primarily help young players understand foreign conditions and the demands of international cricket. In his view, such assignments should serve as a gradual learning experience, giving emerging talents time to adapt rather than expecting immediate results.
Sooryavanshi was expected to make his debut in Ireland, but the team management persisted with the T20 World Cup-winning duo of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma. However, the clamour for Sooryavanshi’s inclusion kept on growing, and three failures for Samson were all it took for the management to drop him and try out the left-hander.
“I’m still telling you, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is an incredible player. If I were the selector, I would have also picked him. But let him take his time. This is called an internship, right? I sometimes thought that I should have played in this era. When I went for the Test tour, a lot of people on social media said Ashwin had to play,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel ‘Ash Ki Baat’.
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“How can you drop him? But I still didn’t play on the team. If I were out, they would keep me out because team management knows what the team needs. You are saying that you can pick teams by succumbing to social media pressure?” he added.
Ashwin’s own experience
Drawing from his own playing days, Ashwin revealed that he once missed out on an England tour despite enjoying a strong run of form because the selectors opted for a different team combination. He used that example to stress that selection decisions should be driven by cricketing requirements rather than external or social media pressure.
“There have been times where I could have played, but there have been times where it was a 50-50 decision, and there were times where it was the right decision. I came to England with very good form, but the coach and captain spoke to me, and then I felt maybe they were doing it for the combination they wanted,” said Ashwin.
“It is the team’s decision. The team management is like a temple. If the outside noise is allowed to enter the team, whose fault is it? How can the outside pressure disturb the team? If the outside pressure is disturbing the team management, then think about the players,” he added.
India failed to leave any mark on the series against Ireland and England, losing both contests. Sooryavanshi is a part of India’s squad for the T20I assignment against Zimbabwe and it remains to be seen whether he gets any game time.