India Ignore Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Again, Sunil Gavaskar Fires Warning: 'Will Put Him Under More Pressure'

The wait continues.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will have to wait a little longer for his senior India debut, with the team management continuing to back its World Cup-winning top order featuring Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan.

Anticipation around the 15-year-old has been growing ever since he earned his maiden international call-up for the recent T20I series against Ireland and the ongoing tour of England. However, after being left out of the playing XI in both matches against Ireland, Sooryavanshi was once again confined to the bench for the opening T20I against England in Chester-le-Street on Wednesday.

Batting great Sunil Gavaskar believes the longer Sooryavanshi has to wait for his opportunity, the greater the expectations will be when

he eventually gets his chance.

However, Gavaskar also feels that at just 15 years of age, the opening batter is unlikely to be burdened by that pressure.

“It will put him (Sooryavanshi) under more pressure whenever he gets an opportunity,” Gavaskar said on Sony Sports. “But at 15 years of age, you don’t think too much about pressure. He knows that if he gets the opportunity in the second or third game, he will have to deliver almost immediately. That’s there.”

“But he is happy to be around. This Indian team is full of lovely, tremendous players, and it is just fantastic for him to be learning from them,” he added.

Series Opener Washed Out

The opening T20I was abandoned after persistent rain denied England the chance to chase India’s target of 190 at the Riverside Ground.

After opting to bat first, India recovered from two early setbacks thanks to a blistering 59 off 24 balls from Abhishek Sharma and a captain’s knock of 68 off 47 from Shreyas Iyer, finishing on 189/7.

While Sanju Samson (1), Ishan Kishan (0) and Tilak Varma (13) failed to make an impact, Shivam Dube provided the late flourish with an unbeaten 42 off 21 balls.

For England, Saqib Mahmood was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/33 from his four overs.

The second T20I will be played on Saturday (July 4) at Old Trafford in Manchester.