Prior to the T20 series opener against Ireland, India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak stated on Thursday that while Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will eventually get his chance, it shouldn’t come at the expense of a batsman getting runs.
If the 15-year-old wonderkid plays in the opening match of the two-match series, he will be the youngest player to represent India. As India enters the series fresh off a second straight World Cup victory, the team management, which consists of head coach Gautam Gambhir and new captain Shreyas Iyer, may struggle to shoehorn him into the playing XI.
Sooryavanshi might open with Sanju Samson and take Abhishek Sharma’s place in the starting eleven.
On the eve of the match, Kotak told reporters that benching a player who has performed well in order to make room for Sooryavanshi would be unjust.
“Vaibhav is very talented, there is no doubt. And the way he has batted in IPL and all the other games, there is no need to tell that he has got a lot of natural abilities. Because in IPL he has faced Jofra, a lot of quick bowlers, a lot of experienced bowlers. And it seems that nothing is bothering him. So he is obviously an extraordinary talent.
“Today evening, captain and head coach will decide about the team. And if he plays great, if he doesn’t play also for me, that is great because he is part of Indian team. And I am sure that he will get his dues and his opportunities. So I don’t think that just to give him an opportunity, we should drop someone who has already been scoring runs.
“That also won’t be right. I think there is a very thin line between trying to give somebody an opportunity and you are being unfair to some other player,” PTI quoted Kotak as saying.
Kotak believes that even selectors have a very difficult task at hand because there is so much T20 talent prepared for the top level. Being excluded from the team selection process is a relief for him.
“If you ask me, there is so much talent in India that even the selectors have a headache. Honestly saying, I don’t have such a big headache because I am not the head coach and the captain. But sometimes it is tough.
“But we also have to remember one thing that those who are already performing, they should never be ignored, as I believe. Those who are already scoring, winning games for the team. BCCI’s structure is such that players will keep coming,” said the former Saurashtra cricketer when asked how tough it is to bench someone from a World Cup winning squad.
Does the team management need to pay more attention to a teenage talent like Sooryavanshi?
“I feel that at this level, maturity, decision-making, and intent of those who perform at this level will always be good. And more than that, as long as he feels that he is part of the team, he can freely behave the way he behaves in other teams. That is good enough.
“And thanks to the BCCI system, the boys who come from U-19, India A they more or less understand the culture of their Indian team. So, it is not that there is a lot of difference for him. But what we were saying is that he should enjoy.
“If he wants to ask or share something, he should do. Gautam was saying the same thing to him. You just feel like you are playing for your own team and just say whatever you feel,” said Kotak.
After demonstrating his leadership in the IPL, Iyer has returned to the T20 team as captain. Iyer, according to Kotak, is an effective leader.
“It is not like that he is with the team for the first time. Even in this team, you will see that there will be 2-3-4 senior players who will be in the leadership group. No matter who the captain is, they keep helping each other. Shreyas has done a lot of captaincy in IPL, he has done it for Mumbai.
“So he has a lot of experience. In fact, when he became champion with Gautam in KKR, Shreyas was the captain. So it’s not like people are expecting something different from him or he is expecting something different.
“The thing that we always have is that we will keep the team first, we will do whatever is needed for the team. I think his speech in the huddle today was the same. That we will look after everyone,” added Kotak.
