Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s wait for India debut continues

2 min readUpdated: Jul 1, 2026 10:25 PM IST

At the age of 15, Sooryavanshi would break Sachin Tendulkar's record for youngest Indian to play international cricket whenever he is selected. (BCCI Photo)

The wait continues for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s international debut as India have stuck with Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma as openers in their first T20I against England. Captain Shreyas Iyer said that India will be playing with three spinners and two seamers with Axar Patel as a spin-bowling all-rounder.

India come into the match on the back of a humiliating 2-0 defeat to Ireland. Both defeats came after India had won the toss and chosen to bowl first time. On Wednesday at Chester-le-Street, Iyer chose to bat. Captain Shreyas Iyer said that India will be playing with three spinners and two seamers with Axar Patel as a spin-bowling all-rounder.

“Ireland is history. It’s a new series, five games, everything to play for. Certainly, this is a great opportunity for us. This is my first, second actually, second series as a captain. So, pretty much excited,” said Iyer at the toss. “There’s pretty decent amount of grass on the wicket. We practiced yesterday as well on the same one. So, can’t actually predict how the wicket’s going to play, but definitely the intent is going to be high.”

England captain Harry Brook, on the other hand, said that the hosts had wanted to bowl first anyhow. “Would’ve had a bowl, happy with that result. Looks like a good wicket,” he said. England themselves are coming off a bruising 2-1 defeat to New Zealand in a three-match Test series at home.

India’s loss to Ireland had resulted in a number of calls for Sooryavanshi to be handed a debut. At the age of 15, Sooryavanshi would break Sachin Tendulkar’s record for youngest Indian to play international cricket whenever he is selected. He was part of the squad for the Ireland tour as well.

India: Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy

England: Philip Salt, Jos Buttler(w), Harry Brook(c), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Saqib Mahmood, Adil Rashid, Luke Wood