Teenage star Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has been dropped for the fifth and final T20I against England at the Ageas Bowl on Saturday. India made one more change to their XI from Bristol: Suryansh Shedge replaced Washington Sundar in the Playing XI as Shreyas Iyer opted to bowl after winning the toss.
Sooryavanshi’s ouster has come along expected lines. In the three matches he played, he contributed 14, 13 and 15. Although he hit a few sixes across those innings, he didn’t look ready for international cricket yet. The 15-year-old, who, at 15 years and 99 days, became the youngest Indian to debut in the second T20I at Manchester, will now look to represent India in the upcoming three T20Is against Zimbabwe.
Big disappointment!
His fans will be disappointed at this development. Sooryavanshi had taken the IPL by storm earlier this year and scored 776 runs for Rajasthan Royals. He hit a record 72 sixes in the process. A few months later, he represented India A in the 50-overs tri-series in Sri Lanka and in the final, scored the fastest List A fifty ever, off just 11 balls. He eventually got out for a 29-ball 94. Had he hit a six off his 29th ball, instead of getting out, he would have scored the joint-highest century too in List A cricket. After these performances, expectations were raised, but sadly, Sooryavanshi failed to live up to them.
Shedge, who plays for Punjab Kings in the IPL, is a batting allrounder and recently in the 50-overs A Tri-series in Sri Lanka, he showed great temperament lower down the order. He is expected to play a finisher’s role today. He made his debut last month against Ireland. Harshit Rana and Varun Chakaravarthy were not available for selection after they picked up hamstring injuries during the third game of the series at Trent Bridge.
Earlier, the toss between India and England was delayed by 45 minutes after the visitors arrived late at the venue. While there was no official confirmation, it is understood that the team was stuck in traffic and couldn’t arrive in time for the toss. The toss, which was originally supposed to happen at 6:30 pm (India time), was eventually pushed to 7:15 pm, and the match, as a result, was given a 7:30 start. A delay of one hour in all.
