According to renowned Kapil Dev, young batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is as talented as Virat Kohli or Sachin Tendulkar, and his ability—rather than his age—should be taken into account when choosing him.
The 15-year-old Sooryavanshi has been drafted into the Indian squads for away Twenty20 International assignments in England and Ireland, but he has yet to have an opportunity to play for his country.
Sooryavanshi has demonstrated that he has the rarest of abilities, according to Kapil, despite the ongoing discussion over whether the explosive young player should be used in place of some of India’s T20 World Cup-winning stars.
“If you are talking about the talent, yes he is as good as Sachin (Tendulkar) or Virat Kohli and the talent can be seen in him for T20, (but) for the rest (of the formats), he will have to prove (himself),” Kapil said on Vikrant podcast.
“The day he plays Test cricket, can he play five overs maiden? He is fabulous in T20s, to make such an impact at a young age, you will not find even one per cent of such people in the world,” he added.
The renowned Indian all-rounder stated that even though he hasn’t seen Sooryavanshi play much, he needs to be allowed room to develop because there is already too much talk about the youngster.
“I have not seen a lot of him, have only seen a little bit. He has huge talent, without any doubt,” Kapil said.
“But (at the same time), I think we are talking too big about him. At the moment, he needs to be given some time. Do not create so much (hype) around him, someone who is of a young age do not even have such understanding.”
Citing Sachin Tendulkar as an example, Kapil stated that Sooryavanshi’s skill, not his youth, should determine whether or not he gets inducted into India’s playing XI.
“There are a couple of things — and we can mention about Sachin because he was of the same age when he had played,” Kapil said.
“We used to wonder if we were playing him a little too early. But if you see the history, you will realise (and think), ‘kabhi late na ho jaye’ (what if you end up delaying it?).”
“I feel that if he is ready, his age should not be counted (taken into consideration) but his ability should be. If you feel that he can be played on his ability, he should be played.”
The former India skipper said it has to be seen how Sooryavanshi responds to and emerges from challenging situations.
“It is not that his bad patch won’t come, difficult times will come, how would he come out of it? There are only a few cricketers who never had a bad patch, be it Sachin Tendulkar or Sunil Gavaskar or Vivian Richards.”
“All players have been through rough times… and a cricketer of his caliber, (it remains to be seen) how would he emerge from it? He looks so talented and the kids from the new generation are just so confident,” Kapil added.
