Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Told To 'Earn His Place' Amidst India Test Aspirations

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has said that he would like to see Vaibhav Sooryavanshi play in subcontinental conditions if he gets picked for the senior Indian team, adding that it wouldn’t be great to throw him into the deeper side of the pool in any of the SENA countries.

Sooryavanshi capped off a brilliant IPL 2026 season by winning five individual awards, including the Orange Cap and the Most Valuable Player honour. Along the way, he shattered multiple records, becoming the youngest cricketer to cross the 1,000-run mark in the tournament and setting a new benchmark for the most sixes in a single IPL season.

Vaibhav’s brilliant performances for Rajasthan Royals have sparked widespread calls for his inclusion in India’s T20I team

for the upcoming series against Ireland and England.

“Vaibhav would be the next in line after the incumbents, Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma. But I would like to see Vaibhav play in similar batting conditions to those in the IPL, if they pick him for India at all,” Manjrekar said while speaking to Sportstar.

“Would not be a great idea to put him straight into, you know, foreign, kind of, on a foreign pitch, like New Zealand, South Africa, we will see. He might go out there and repeat what he has done in the IPL,” Manjrekar added.

As for Sooryavanshi, it remains unclear whether he will earn a call-up for the Ireland tour. But he is all set to represent India A in the upcoming tri-series featuring Sri Lanka A and Afghanistan A, which gets underway on June 9.

Speaking of Sooryavanshi, he ended the season with a staggering strike rate of 237.31 and came close to three hundreds, being dismissed in the 90s on as many occasions. Two of those innings came in the playoffs, where he scored 97 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator and followed it up with a 96 against the Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2.

Manjrekar also cautioned against rushing into conversations about Sooryavanshi’s prospects in Tests, stressing that it is still too early to make such projections. He suggested that observers should first permit his game to evolve and see the direction his career takes in the coming years.

“A lot of people are saying how we should handle him? And how will he fare in red-ball cricket? I don’t think it is our job to handle. It is not even BCCI’s job. He is an individual,” Manjrekar said.

“It really should be about him deciding what he wants to be in life. Because if he wants to play red ball cricket, it is a little unfair that he gets picked on for these performances when there could be certain deserving players who have done the hard yards in that Bihar Ranji Trophy team,” Manjrekar added.

“If he wants to aspire to play in the Ranji Trophy cricket, he has got to fight for his place in that side,” Manjrekar said.