Former India opener Aakash Chopra has given his take on the team management’s the decision to drop Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for the fourth T20I against New Zealand after Ishan Kishan regained fitness. He wondered whether the youngster was being viewed only as a replacement for injured players. He suggested that if Sooryavanshi is unlikely to get regular opportunities in the playing XI, he would be better served returning to domestic cricket, particularly first-class cricket, to gain valuable match experience and spend more time at the crease.
Sooryavanshi featured in the second and third T20Is against New Zealand after Kishan was ruled out through injury. The youngster scored 4 and 45 in his two appearances before being left out of the playing XI for the fourth match.
“Last match, Abhishek made a hundred and Vaibhav narrowly missed his fifty. But the batting was very good. After that, the question was, if Ishan is fit, who will go out? If you think philosophically, then the answer is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi since he replaced an injured Kishan. But this was a dead rubber,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“The decision to drop Vaibhav Sooryavanshi leads to a bigger question. Will you play Vaibhav Sooryavanshi only when someone is injured or unavailable? If that is the case, you can send him home. You can tell him to go and play first-class cricket. Of course, he can learn by staying in the Indian dressing room. But if it’s happening for an extended period, he should be getting bat on ball,” he added.
Chopra called on the team management to clarify its plans and long-term vision for Sooryavanshi, expressing disappointment over the youngster’s omission and the lack of clarity surrounding his role in the squad.
“The team should come out and share what their roadmap and philosophy are. Maybe they have already thought about it and charted out a plan. But they haven’t told anybody. As such, we don’t know what they are going to do with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. His absence was a little disappointing,” Chopra said.
Kishan endured a disappointing return, falling for a duck as India chased a daunting target of 260 before being restricted to 172/9.
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