Sunil Gavaskar has urged India’s team management to hand Vaibhav Sooryavanshi his T20I debut in the opening match of the England series, insisting the teenager should not be kept waiting any longer after missing out during the recent tour of Ireland. Speaking to Aaj Tak following India’s 2-0 series defeat, the former India Captain said the selectors had already missed an ideal opportunity to introduce one of the country’s brightest young talents.
“For a month, I had been saying that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi could have played both games because of his form. In one match, you could have had Abhishek Sharma opening the batting and Sanju Samson in the other with Sooryavanshi. But it has not happened. I am not saying Vaibhav would have won you the match. Even he might have gotten out after scoring 10-15 runs. But, if you had to try a young player, these two matches were the ideal opportunity,” Gavaskar said.
🚨SUNIL GAVASKAR ANGRY ON GAMBHIR 🚨
Happy to see that India 🇮🇳 lost series against Ireland 🇮🇪
They took Vaibhav Suryavanshi to the tournament only to keep him on the bench and humiliate him?
What exactly do they want? To demoralise him so badly that his confidence is…
— The King 👑 (@lordkings_x) June 28, 2026
India’s decision to persist with its established opening combination came under greater scrutiny after Ireland secured a historic 2-0 T20I series victory, winning the opening match by 34 runs before defending 154 to clinch the second game by one run. The defeats have intensified the debate over whether India should accelerate Sooryavanshi’s introduction ahead of tougher assignments.
The 15-year-old has already built an impressive body of work over the past year. He finished IPL 2026 as the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 776 runs to claim the Orange Cap, struck a record 72 sixes and was named the competition’s Most Valuable Player before earning his maiden senior India call-up.
“No [you can’t wait any longer]. You should play him from the first game in England. It’s as straightforward as that. Keep the out-of-form batters on the bench and play Sooryavanshi. That’s it. Either you play him as the opener or at No. 3, but he has to play the first match of the England series, which is on July 1,” he added.
Sooryavanshi also carried that form into age-group cricket, scoring 94 in the Under-19 tri-series final against Sri Lanka after earlier contributions of 38 and 44 against Afghanistan. Earlier in the season, he rewrote the record books by smashing 175 off just 80 balls in the Under-19 World Cup final, the highest individual score ever recorded in a tournament final.
While Gavaskar stopped short of recommending changes to the successful opening pair of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma, he believes there is still room to accommodate the teenager in the batting order.
“It can happen. The opening partnership of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma have played really well. So, dropping them after two matches is not right. But you can drop a batter from the middle-order. So, you can play Sooryavanshi at No. 3. But, on July 1, you have to play him. If you want to shock England, then you have to play him. He might fail, but if he gets going, England will be rattled,” Gavaskar said.
Team management had explained its selection approach
Before the Ireland series began, India Batting Coach Sitanshu Kotak had indicated that the management did not want to rush Sooryavanshi into international cricket at the expense of players already performing well.
“I am sure that he will get his dues and his opportunities,” Kotak said while speaking to the media.
“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,” he added.
Kotak also stressed that the final decision rested with the team management and balancing opportunities with fairness across the squad.
“Obviously, it depends on the team management… what we plan to do in this match. That is a different thing,” he said.
“But I think it is a very thin line between trying to give somebody an opportunity and you being unfair to some other player,” Kotak added.
Gavaskar questions India’s approach after Ireland defeat
Writing in his Sportstar column, Gavaskar widened his criticism beyond team selection, describing the Ireland series as one of Indian cricket’s most disappointing results and questioning the attitude displayed by the side across both matches.
“Sunday, June 28, will go down as one of the worst days in Indian cricket. Losing a game of cricket is one thing, but to lose a series, albeit a two-match series, also depends on whom you lose to. There are many low points in Indian cricket, and I have been a part of some, but to lose to Ireland has to be one of the lowest in the history of Indian cricket. If Ireland had played exceptional cricket, then it would have lessened the blow. It was simply overconfidence and a sense of casualness that let India down, and that’s why the sadness,” Gavaskar wrote.
He also felt India’s batting failed to respond to the conditions and match situations during the series.
“Playing according to the situation is such an important aspect of any sport, especially cricket, but almost all the Indian batters tried to live up to their image and, on pitches that had a little extra carry and bounce, found that they were dismissed very easily by some good catching allied to smart bowling,” he added.
Gavaskar also raised questions over whether India fielded a fully fit squad during the series.
“It’s tough to comment from this distance, but the question that most cricket lovers would ask is: did we play all fit players, or were there some who weren’t 100%? Playing a player who isn’t fully fit is understandable if that player is an impact player capable of delivering, even if not fully fit. Otherwise, it suggests that the reserve players are not good enough to take the injured player’s place. Hopefully, I am completely wrong, but to see players playing with bandaged fingers does give the impression that they are carrying an injury, even if it may be a minor one,” Gavaskar wrote.
India will now have an immediate opportunity to respond when they begin a five-match T20I series against England on July 1, before the teams meet again in a three-match ODI series starting on July 14, with the debate over Sooryavanshi’s long-awaited international debut set to remain firmly in focus.
