He's 15 years old.
Not 25. Not 21. Fifteen.
And Sunil Gavaskar just went on national TV and basically dared India to stop being scared of him.
"Play him on July 1. That's it."
Meet Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
The left-hander who just lit IPL 2026 on fire:
The runs were not a rumour. The runs were on the scoreboard.
And yet… in Belfast, he sat.
And sat.
And sat some more.
Let that sentence breathe.
India's first-ever T20I series defeat to Ireland — and the IPL's leading run-scorer watched it from the dugout in a tracksuit.
The management's defence? "World Cup-winning core. Continuity. He can wait."
Gavaskar wasn't buying it.
👉 "For a month I had been saying he could have played both games. Even if he got out for 10-15, these two matches were the ideal opportunity."
Team Play Him Now:
Team Hold Your Horses:
Both sides have a point. That's what makes this so juicy.
Ireland was the training-wheels version of this decision.
Low stakes. Soft bowling. A free hit.
India didn't take it.
Now England arrives. Five matches. Hostile crowds. Sharper attacks. No safety net.
Gavaskar's pitch is almost cinematic:
"If you want to shock England, you have to play him. He might fail. But if he gets going, England will be rattled."
India has always said the right things about youth.
Dropped a Champions Trophy-winning captain for youth.
Dropped a T20 World Cup-winning captain for youth.
And now a 15-year-old with the Orange Cap is knocking. Loudly.
The selectors can keep calling this delayed.
But every game he doesn't play, the word quietly starts sounding like something else entirely.
That's all for now!
