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Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar stated how he would have benched Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for the game against Afghanistan A as a consequence for his on-field melee during the game against Sri Lanka A earlier this week.
Sooryavanshi was involved in a tussle with Sri Lanka's Vishen Halambage after the hosts secured a dramatic win in a Super Over in Dambulla. The 15-year-old physically manhandled the opposition player, something deemed unacceptable by Manjrekar, which should have resulted in a suspension
to serve as a warning.
The Rajasthan Royals starlet is an excellent talent, but will take time to understand how to behave on the field in international cricket.
If I was India A coach or manager I would have left Vaibhav Suryavanshi out for this game v AFG. Only to let him know that’s it’s not OK to get physical on the field. Whatever the provocations," Sanjay Manjrekar said on X (formerly Twitter).
If I was India A coach or manager I would have left Vaibhav Suryavanshi out for this game v AFG. Only to let him know that’s it’s not OK to get physical on the field. Whatever the provocations.
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) June 17, 2026
Sooryavanshi did not have the best of times against Afghanistan A despite getting a couple of lifelines. The left-handed batter scored 38 runs from 28 balls before being dismissed by Faridoon Dawoodzai. He did, however, have a catch not deemed fair by the third umpire in the first over and then had a catch put down during the early stages of his innings.
It is worth remembering that this is the first time Sooryavanshi has been picked in an India A squad in his young career. The opening batter's best outing came against the same opponents when he scored 44 off just 22 balls. India, however, ended the game on the losing side after suffering a four-run defeat through the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method.
