Samira Vishwas
Tezzbuzz|31-03-2026
Former England captain Michael Vaughan wants Vaibhav Sooryavanshi fast-tracked into the senior India men’s team. Following the 15-year-old’s 17-ball 52 against the Chennai Super Kings in the third match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, Vaughan said that Sooryavanshi stole the limelight from his opening partner, Yashasvi Jaiswal. It has been a remarkable 12 months for the left-handed batter, where he has plundered runs for fun. Not just the IPL, Sooryavanshi also made a name for himself in U19 cricket, hammering centuries in England, Australia and South Africa. He single-handedly won India the U19 World Cup after smashing 175 runs in the final against England, off just 80 balls with 15 sixes and as many fours.
Sooryavanshi announced his arrival at the big stage last year by smashing a 35-ball century in the IPL against the Gujarat Titans. However, everyone believed there could be a second-season syndrome, as teams could find him out. However, the Royals’ first game of the IPL 2026 season saw Sooryavanshi at his absolute best.
Vaughan believes that even if Sooryavanshi can’t make it to the playing XI for the upcoming England white-ball tour, he should be named in the squad for the three T20Is, as he will get the experience of being with seniors and get a hang of things.
“When will he make his Indian debut? And I’m just looking, and I know we’re probably getting ahead of ourselves. It’s only the first innings of the IPL, but there’s a white-ball tour to England in a few months’ time. And if I was Indian cricket, I would get him on that tour. Not necessarily, he’s going to get into players that are in the team at the moment, but the one thing that he’s going to need is he’s going to need to be brought into the Indian team and the kind of surroundings of what Indian cricket is. Just bring him in, and if he plays one or two games, fantastic, but get him on a tour. Is he allowed to go on tours as a 15-year-old?” Vaughan said on Cricbuzz.
“I’d be giving him a little bit of experience with that Indian team. Not necessarily, as I said, jumping straight into the side, but just having him around. He’s good enough to play. I do not doubt that,” he added.
‘Outshining Jaiswal’
In the match against CSK, which RR won by eight wickets, Sooryavansh shared an opening partnership of 75 runs with Jaiswal, with the former doing the bulk of the scoring. The range of shots led Vaughan to conclude that Sooryavanshi absolutely outshone Jaiswal.
While Sooryavanshi scored 52 runs off 17 balls, Jaiswal remained unbeaten on 38 off 36 balls. The latter ensured that Royals don’t suffer any hiccups and coast over the line in the chase of 128.
“When you think he’s batting with someone at the other end, who I have in the last few years, he’s right up there with the best, in terms of all format players. Yashasvi Jaiswal, I think he’s a wonderful player. And I’m not saying he made Jaiswal look mediocre tonight, but there was a gulf in kind of fearlessness. You could see Jaiswal looking at the ball, just trying to play. This kid’s just looking at the ball to launch it into the stands. He just has remarkable freedom,” said Vaughan.
“The two innings were a contrast. You had Sooryavanshi, who just went pure modern sixes. And I respected Jaiswal, because I don’t think he was seeing it as well as he could see it. So he didn’t just give it away. His strike rate wasn’t huge, but he’s had a little bit of time in the middle,” he added.
After the game, Sooryavanshi also revealed that it was Jaiswal who told him to keep going for sixes as he was timing the ball really well and not bother about getting singles or doubles.
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