India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak attended the pre-series press conference ahead of the 1st T20I against Ireland in Belfast, where he was asked whether 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will make his T20I debut on Friday. Kotak’s response made it clear and left no doubts over India’s opening pair for the upcoming set of matches.
Shreyas Iyer’s tenure as India’s new T20I captain begins today with a seven-T20I tour of the UK. India will play Ireland in two T20Is, on June 26 and 28, before facing England in a five-match T20I series from July 1.
This seven-match run could also see Sooryavanshi become the youngest India debutant in international cricket, with Sachin Tendulkar holding this record for playing his first game for India at 16 years and 205 days.
The youngster is coming off a monstrous IPL 2026 season, where he belted 776 runs at a strike rate close to 240. During the course of the season, the southpaw broke Chris Gayle’s record for the most sixes in a single edition of the IPL – 59 sixes by the former RCB opener in IPL 2012 – with 72 maximums.
He followed this up with a blazing knock of 94 runs off 29 balls that included him registering the fastest List-A fifty off only 11 balls.
All this, however, might not be enough for him to yet earn his maiden India cap, hinted Kotak.
IND vs IRE: Will Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Play In 1st T20I?
Ahead of the 1st T20I against Ireland, Sitanshu Kotak, India’s batting coach, suggested that it would be unfair to drop either Sanju Samson or Abhishek Sharma just to play Sooryavanshi, and the youngster will get his chance later on.
“I am sure that he will get his dues and his opportunities. So I don’t think that just to give him an opportunity, we should drop someone who has already been scoring runs. That also won’t be right,” Kotak said.
“Obviously, it depends on the team management… what we plan to do in this match. That is a different thing. But I think it is a very thin line between trying to give somebody an opportunity and you being unfair to some other player.”
During the T20 World Cup earlier this year, Samson produced a historic hat-trick of half-centuries: 97* against the West Indies in a virtual knockout group-stage game, 89 vs England in the semi-final, and 89 vs New Zealand in the final to eventually bag the Man of the Tournament award.
Abhishek had an underwhelming tournament but slammed a 21-ball 52 in the final to get India racing. He is currently ranked the No. 1 ICC T20I batsman in the world.
Ireland skipper Lorcan Tucker labelled Sooryavanshi as an “incredible player” and expressed astonishment at the feats the teenager has achieved on his way to the India squad.
Tucker said, “I think it’s pretty incredible for them to have a 15-year-old on their team. I didn’t think ever that was going to be possible in this professional era of the game, especially with the amount of work that goes into professional cricket and the standard of the players. So yeah, credit to him.”
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