Manchester: 15-year-old left-arm opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi became the youngest cricketer to make his international debut for India after being included in the defending champions’ line-up for the second T20I against England.
He scored a 35-ball century for inaugural champions Rajasthan Royals during the Indian Premier League (IPL) last year, surpassing the legendary Sachin Tendulkar to become the youngest player to represent India at international level.
Notably, Tendulkar made his international debut for India in December 1989 against arch-rivals Pakistan at the age of 16 years and 205 days, while Suriyavanshi was just 15 years and 99 days.
Suryavanshi is the youngest player to be selected for the Indian men’s cricket team after Tendulkar, who announced the squads for the T20I series against Ireland and England respectively.
However, the left-arm opener was not considered for selection in each of the two T20Is against Ireland, followed by the series opener against England, which was abandoned due to persistent rain at Chester-le-Street on Wednesday.
India’s newly appointed T20I captain Shreyas Iyer, who began his stint with a 2-0 away series defeat at the hands of Ireland, confirmed the development after winning the toss and electing to bat first, with Suryavanshi replacing Sanju Samson in their XI to share.
Iyer further praised the 15-year-old for showing immense confidence, insisting that he deserves to be in the lineup.
“One change, Sanju (Samson) is coming in with Vaibhav (Suryavanshi),” said Iyer in Das.
“You’ve seen him in the last couple of months, the way he’s been smashing the ball, taking on the best bowlers, it shows the immense confidence he has.
“I feel he absolutely deserves to be in the team the way he’s done over the last couple of months and years. He’s not under pressure. The way you see him in the dressing room, he’s got that unflappability. It’s great to be around him.”
India’s playing XI for the second T20 against England:
Vaibhav Suriyavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Thilak Varma, Shivam Dubey, Harshit Rana, Akshar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakraborty.