Indian batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi should be free to enjoy his game without facing any extra pressure both on and off the field, according to Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag.
Sooryavanshi will team up with India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal in the IPL starting on March 28, according to Parag, who also stated that the 14-year-old should be allowed the room and time to continue honing his skills without external pressure.
“As a captain my message to him would be to not do a lot of press conferences or follow a lot of media. Let him just enjoy, which I will request you (media) as well. Do not reach out to his manager or anyone; just let him be. He’s a 15-16 (14) year-old kid, let him play cricket. He’s playing really well and he’s going to make the country proud,” PTI quoted Parag telling reporters in Jaipur during a pre-season press conference on Thursday.
According to Parag, Sooryavanshi will be allowed to go all out right from the onset, while Jaiswal, his senior partner, will handle the pressure.
“Of course he will have some pressure coming his way but I am going to tell him that whatever pressure is going to be there, Jaiswal will handle it as he is good enough to handle that role. My only message for Vaibhav is to go out and play. If the first ball is meant to be hit, hit it. There’s no issue in that. I don’t think any young player has done what he has over the last one year. He is scoring runs everywhere,” Parag said.
The Royals’ lack of a member from the Indian team that won the T20 World Cup earlier this month, according to head coach Kumar Sangakkara, does not worry him too much.
“It is what it is. India played amazingly well in the World Cup. I am more interested in the players that we have, rather than the players we don’t have. For me, looking at my squad, there are certainly enough good Indian players, who probably played in both World Cup sides,” he said.
According to Sangakkara, RR has made an effort to improve the side’s adaptability since the last edition.
“We had to upscale our side in terms a little bit of batting depth, in terms of local spin, in terms of our all-rounders, (and) in terms of more options that we have in the bowling department so that we can also rejig the batting line-up.”
Sanju Samson, Rajasthan Royals’ regular captain, left the team after 11 years to join the Chennai Super Kings in a pre-season deal, and Ravindra Jadeja joined the Royals.
“With the trades that we’ve done, with some of the auction buys, we have managed to address the local spin department so that we can then start looking at different options in terms of overseas batters and bowlers and that gives us a little bit more flexibility,” Sangakkara said.
