As Vaibhav Sooryavanshi gets ready to represent the Indian cricket team — yes, it’s going to happen sooner rather than later — he is coming under heavy scrutiny. After all, international cricket is not a joke, and all his well-wishers don’t want him to fail at such a big stage in any aspect of the game.
So far, we have heard all good things about the 15-year-old. That he hits big sixes, and that on his day, he can kill the opposition real quick. The only criticism on that front has been that he doesn’t look like a technical player and can struggle at some point.
But now former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif has brought to light an aspect of the game that is equally important. It’s the fielding, for which Kaif was renowned back in the noughties. Like batting and bowling, fielding is equally important and can often be the difference between wins and losses.
In what should come as a shock, Kaif has pointed out that Sooryavanshi has not taken a single catch this season. He wasn’t happy with the way Sooryavanshi fielded again Delhi Capitals in Rajasthan Royals’ defeat on Sunday night at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
“It’s painful to watch the fielding in this IPL. Today, Yash Raj dropped KL [Rahul] when he was on zero. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi too misfielded. The young boy hasn’t taken a catch this season. While playing for India, he needs to be sharper on the field. It is the duty of coaches to teach youngsters fielding skills. On their part, the boys should enjoy fielding and take pride in it,” Kaif wrote on X.
That’s a serious assessment. The left-hander batsman and the people around him should take note of that.
Ravi Shastri doesn’t want any delay!
Anyway, Sooryavanshi is part of the India A team that will play an ODI tri-series in Sri Lanka next month. And there is enough indication that he might debut for India against Ireland later that month. Former India coach Ravi Shastri recently asked the Indian selectors not to delay his inclusion. As far as Shastri was concerned, Sooryavanshi was ready to play for the national team.
“A lot of people will ask, is he 15, is he 16, is he 14? I don’t care. I just see the way he is batting at the moment and the way he’s taking on all comers twice his age or maybe two and a half times his age. It doesn’t matter to him.
“So I think he’s very, very much in the reckoning. And when you have tours of Ireland [in June for 2 T20Is] and all this happening now, I would be looking into him straight away.
“I can tell you that, for sure, because if you want to encourage or get someone young and into the setup as quickly as possible, then it’s the T20 format of the game, and he is not short by any margin.
“This guy can walk into a lot of sides in world cricket at this current moment in time. Just when you look at the exuberance of youth, that youth shows on his face,” Shastri said on the latest episode of The ICC Review.
