Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will be leading Bihar in the first two rounds of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The 15-year-old will be leading the team in the opening two fixtures against Saurashtra (November 14) and Railways (November 16) in Indore.
“He is ready to take up this role. He was earlier not available for the previous matches. Sakibul Gani is injured, and hence Sooryavanshi has been given the opportunity to lead Bihar,” Bihar assistant coach Ashok Kumar told HT.
“This is an opportunity for him; we are preparing him for the future, and it also sends a good message to the young players. He is absolutely ready to lead the team,” he added.
For the T20 tournament, Bihar are in Group B alongside Delhi, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Railways, Saurashtra and Tamil Nadu.
This is the second time this year that Sooryavanshi has been given a leadership role. Earlier, he served as East Zone’s vice-captain for the Duleep Trophy, which the team won under the leadership of Ishan Kishan.
Earlier this week, Sachin Tendulkar stated that Sooryavanshi should not be tasked with a leadership role this early in his career and should be given space to find his footing as a player.
“I feel it’s too early for him to become a vice-captain in the Duleep Trophy. We have to let him play more matches with the red ball and take one step at a time,” said Sachin during an AMA session on Reddit when asked about what he makes of Sooryavanshi being made the vice-captain for the Duleep Trophy.
Sooryavanshi’s next assignments
The left-hander was recently named in India A’s Rising Stars Asia Cup squad, which will be played in the 50-over format this time around. Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma and Harshit Rana are all a part of the team which will begin its campaign against Nepal on November 20. The matches against Pakistan A and UAE will be played on November 22 and 24, respectively.
Sooryavanshi recently played in the T20I series against New Zealand, appearing in the second and third matches and returning scores of 4 and 45.
Bihar squad for the first two matches of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (captain), Suraj Kashyap (vice-captain), Alok Kumar, Altamash Ashraf, Param Kumar Singh, Anmol Kumar (wk), Ayush Loharuka (wk), Ritwik Raj, Mayank Kumar, Raghvendra Pratap, Ashish Kumar, Vasudev Pratap Singh, Mohammad Izhar, Amod Yadav, Prashant Singh, Nawaz Khan and Himanshu Singh.
Delhi’s squad for SMAT
The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) also announced the squad for the upcoming tournament, and former skipper Nitish Rana has been dropped from the 16-member team.
The 32-year-old had led Delhi in the last edition of SMAT, where the side failed to progress beyond the group stage.
The team will be led by Ayush Badoni, and the contingent will be bolstered by Mayank Yadav, Ishant Sharma, and Harshit Rana.
Delhi squad: Ayush Badoni (captain), Priyansh Arya, Sarthak Ranjan, Yash Dhull, Ayush Doseja, Tejasvi (wk), Anuj Rawat (wk), Himmat Singh, Mayank Rawat, Keshav Dabas, Suyash Sharma, Digvesh, Ishant Sharma, Harshit Rana, Mayank Yadav and Simarjeet Singh.