Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s open-and-shut case for India T20I call-up

India’s next T20I assignment is a two-match series against Ireland in Belfast on June 26 and 28. Following that is a short hop to England for five T20Is from July 1 to 11.

Conventional wisdom may suggest the maintenance of the status quo for a team that has just won the T20 World Cup two months ago. But how do you delay Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s entry into the Indian set-up in the shortest format any longer?

Sure, Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson have excelled as an opening pair over the past two years. The southpaw from Punjab has been India’s best batter in this genre since his debut in 2024. Samson, meanwhile, raised his game at the business end of the marquee event, and walked away with the Player-of-the-Tournament award.

‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ may be a sound maxim to heed in usual circumstances, but there is nothing normal about a 15-year-old virtually breaking down the selection door with each passing innings in a sublime IPL campaign. The opener has amassed a chart-topping 680 runs at a strike rate of 242.85.

In the Eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday, the ball pinged off his willow with a mellifluous tone during the course of a 29-ball 97. The SRH bowlers planned to bowl full with a straight mid-off and a straight extra-cover for protection, but Sooryavanshi was vigilant in keeping out a couple of Pat Cummins’ yorkers before unleashing a business-as-usual six-hitting spectacle.

If Sooryavanshi, who will feature for India-A in a 50-over tri-series in Sri Lanka from June 9 to 21, dons the blue shade in Ireland or England, he would be surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s record of being the youngest male cricketer to play for India. Back in 1989, the selectors didn’t shy away from throwing a 16-year-old Tendulkar into the cauldron against Pakistan. The ball is now in the court of the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel.