Noises have been growing to see Vaibhav Sooryavanshi make his India debut as the teenage sensation continues to play the waiting game despite being part of India’s T20I squads for the UK tour. Sooryavanshi did not earn his maiden cap during the two Ireland T20Is, and the same remained the case for the series opener against England as Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson continue to be the first-choice opening pair.
However, with Samson failing to impress in all of the three innings that he has played in, calls for including Sooryavanshi have grown much louder. Former India cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara spoke on the possible inclusion of the 15-year-old, emphasising the need to hand a debut to the player but not at the expense of dropping Samson or the other two top-order batters in Abhishek and Ishan Kishan.ย
“I think India should persist with Sanju Samson. I don’t think he should be feeling any pressure. He has proved himself in the T20 World Cup and, with the kind of talent he possesses, he should be there in the playing XI,” Pujara said on JioStar.
“There shouldn’t be a lot of noise about dropping Sanju Samson. He is a quality player and should get a longer run. Sanju just needs to bat naturally and not think too much. If Vaibhav needs to play, he should play, but not at the expense of dropping someone, rather by resting someone.ย
“If you want to give him an opportunity, that is fine. But you shouldn’t be dropping any of India’s top three players, whether it’s Sanju, Abhishek or Ishan Kishan. Having said that, Vaibhav does deserve an opportunity, and his opportunity will come.”
Sanju Samson’s performances under scrutiny
Meanwhile, Samson has managed to score just six runs in the three innings, having scored a five, a duck, and one run in the two Ireland T20Is and the England T20I. He came into the UK tour on the back of mixed performances for the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League 2026 but had a spectacular T20 World Cup for India.ย
However, it is not just Samson who has not been performing, but several other Indian batters have had mixed outings in the three T20Is as they have largely failed to adapt to the conditions in Ireland. Tilak Varma’s underwhelming performances have been called out. Shreyas Iyer has had only one half-century in the three innings he has batted since his captaincy debut.
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