Vaibhav Sooryavanshi became the youngest Indian to win a Gold medal in Asian Games.
India T20I captain Shreyas Iyer has praised Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is going to dominate Indian cricket when his time comes. His words came after India won the Gold medal in the Asian Games 2026 by defeating Pakistan in the final on October 3, in Nisshin.
Sooryavanshi made 38 against Sri Lanka on a tough pitch in the semi-final game and also made 15 off 9 balls against Pakistan in the final.
Sooryavanshi made his India debut in T20Is against England under Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy in Manchester on July 4, 2026. He has played 8 T20Is, scoring 246 runs with two fifties, and won the Player of the Series award against Zimbabwe.
While Vaibhav has still not been able to repeat his IPL 2026 form in international cricket, he has had a few indications of what he is capable of in international cricket. Vaibhav will hope to make full use of his opportunities when India face the West Indies in their home T20I series.
Iyer has known Vaibhav up close in the past three months, and before the upcoming India-West Indies T20I series, while talking about Vaibhav, he said that Vaibhav is going to take over Indian cricket whenever his time comes.
As per Iyer, he keeps talking to Vaibhav, and said that he is a very silent player but extremely destructive when it comes to playing.
“I keep interacting with Vaibhav in terms of what he does outside the field, because everyone talks to him about cricket, and we know how talented and gifted as an individual he is. So, just to talk about his lifestyle outside, that interaction, knowing about his family, what he does, what not, that excites him more because he’s more himself when he talks about it.
He is a very silent guy, but on the field, he is very destructive. So, that’s like an irony when you look at him. He’s a very charming, sweet guy to interact with and good to have around the dressing room. And I know that his time will come, because we have been playing with World Cup-winning openers right now, and they deserve the time out there, and he’s still in the 15. So definitely, when his time comes, he is going to dominate Indian cricket," Iyer told JioStar.
The five-match T20I series between India and West Indies will begin from October 6 onwards.