Support for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s international debut is intensifying, with new calls for the prodigy to be included in India’s Test squad. At just 15 years old, Sooryavanshi’s achievements over the past year have left former cricketers eager to see him represent the national side. While his experience is primarily rooted in T20 and some ODI cricket, he has participated in only eight First Class matches alongside a few Youth Tests. Although red ball cricket is his least explored format, supporters believe his long term future lies in the longest version of the game.
The Argument for an Early Debut
Zubin Bharucha, the mentor who brought Sooryavanshi to the Rajasthan Royals, is a strong advocate for an immediate promotion to the senior team. Bharucha draws a parallel to 1989, when the BCCI famously handed a young Sachin Tendulkar his debut against Pakistan. He argues that the only way to gauge the teenager’s temperament is to test him at the highest level.
“That’s a difficult one because, honestly, if you look at it from any sort of metric ; score, strike-rate, run scored – he is already ahead of so many people waiting in line. I actually feel they need to take that leap of faith, as they did with Sachin Tendulkar, and blood him straightaway,” Bharucha told Wisden.
A New Role in the Middle Order
While Sooryavanshi has functioned as an opener throughout his developing career, Bharucha suggests that his true calling might be in the lower middle order, specifically in the roles currently held by players like Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja. The mentor believes that with specific technical adjustments, the youngster could reach legendary status.
Regarding his readiness for Test cricket, Bharucha analyzed the technical aspects of Sooryavanshi’s game:
“My belief is that technically, he doesn’t commit himself enough. He is always on the back foot, and that to me is the holy grail of batting. So when the ball is moving, if you don’t commit your front foot, that is talking about the greats of the greats. The question is whether we can get him to follow the same sequence when the ball is moving. I also feel that opening isn’t his calling. He has so much more to offer that we would be amiss to say that go into the opening slot straightaway,” Bharucha added.
Long Term Tactical Vision
Bharucha envisions a gradual progression for the youngster, starting him further down the batting order to shield him from the initial new ball while allowing him to impact the game late in the day.
“I won’t put him at 4 at the moment. He is slightly behind that. 5-6 number, where he can come in potentially in the 60th or the 70th over, pile on a quickfire 40-50. Then maybe when the new ball comes somewhere along the way and he learns to manage that. My long-term thought is that if we are able to make him understand the nuances of the moving ball, how he combats that in various combinations. For example, if there’s a Test match in Bengaluru, he can still open and score runs, but if he’s going to Leeds or somewhere else, where you can’t see the ball with all the members hovering around, that might be a challenge. Still, over time if he figures it out, he would be equally devastating at the top as he would be as he would be down the order. That would be the final piece in the jigsaw.”
