Sooryavanshi has featured in 8 of the 21 T20Is India have played since his debut.
India’s T20I captain Shreyas Iyer confirmed on Wednesday (October 21) ahead of the five-match series in New Zealand that teenage batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will have to wait for his regular chances in the playing XI.
Iyer emphasized that because Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson have been solid at the top, Sooryavanshi cannot just "walk straight into the team right now." Both openers were vital to India defending their T20I World Cup title earlier in the year.
The 15-year-old sensation has featured in 8 of the 21 T20Is India have played since his inclusion during the tour of England and Ireland.
"It's important that a talent like him (Sooryavanshi) should always be happy around the dressing room," Iyer said while speaking to media on the eve of the first T20I against New Zealand in Christchurch.
"He is very young, he has more years to get opportunities. It's not like he can walk in right now, because our openers are scoring consistently, and they have won the World Cup."
During the 2026 Asian Games on tricky Japan pitches, both Samson and Sooryavanshi appear in the playing XI, with the former dropping to No. 3 and the latter opening alongside Abhishek. However, the teenager was left out of the lineup once the team resumed bilateral action against the West Indies.
However, Iyer advised Sooryavanshi to remain happy and absorb the environment, highlighting that traveling with the squad to places like New Zealand will give the youngster crucial experience regarding how to play on overseas bounce and movement, preparing him heavily for future assignments.
"So, if you see, when he is coming overseas, he will get a fair idea how to play on these particular wickets. Next time, whenever he comes in these conditions, he will be very well-prepared. And he can also instruct the other team members, whoever comes here for the first time," the skipper added.
The reigning T20 World Champions have arrived in New Zealand following a relentless schedule that featured back-to-back home assignments against Afghanistan and the West Indies, along with a gold-medal-winning campaign at the Asian Games in Japan.
Shreyas Iyer said his team is used to excessive travelling and playing in a variety of conditions. "We've done that in the past, especially after finishing the Afghanistan series. We went to Ireland, and we got a couple of more matches in between. But it's fun at the same time to be travelling, playing and getting accustomed to new conditions.
"Well, we just want to put the reasons aside and see to it how we would be planning to win. That's the chat going on inside the dressing room," he stated.
Iyer also discussed about adapting to the challenging pace-friendly wickets and cold weather in New Zealand after playing on flat pitches at home.
"If you look at the conditions here, fast bowling suits here. It's not like the conditions are completely different. In England, the way we played, they had prepared wickets according to our batting," he pointed out.
"But on a given day, no one knows how the wicket will be. So, we will try to acclimatise as soon as possible. And once we have a good practice session, every individual will get a fair idea of how to plan."
He conceded that the BlackCaps would have the home advantage to bank on. "Yeah, we've been playing consistently and there is a camaraderie in the team. And talking about the home conditions, the advantage they have is definitely knowing about what the conditions are on different wickets. So, that's the only difference."
Shreyas Iyer also addressed the "sweet headache" of having a deep bench strength, saying that it forces every player to consistently perform, which elevates the overall standard of the team.
With Ishan Kishan performing exceptionally well at number three, Iyer explicitly stated that he has no plans to push himself up the order, opting instead to let in-form players maintain their momentum while he fills roles lower down (typically at number four or five).
"I feel that (with regards to) the team demands in a particular situation, you should be flexible. And if you see here, there are a lot of batsmen who, lower down the order, can't be that destructive.
"I feel that I can bat at any number. It depends upon the situation what is the situation of the game at that point. Now, if you see in the last World Cup, Kishan was consistently batting at number three, and he is a number one batsman right now. So, I don't foresee myself pushing myself up the order," he remarked.
(With PTI Inputs)