Sooryavanshi failed to get a big score in the 3 T20Is he played against England.
India failed to win a single T20I on the tour, losing two matches to Ireland and four to England, with one game getting rained out.
Srikkanth chastised Iyer for justifying his choice to drop the 15-year-old prodigy from the final T20I against England in Southampton. Srikkanth was deeply disappointed by Iyer's comments at the toss prior to the match, in which India lost by 56 runs to hand England a 4-0 series sweep.
Explaining the team selection at the toss, Iyer had stated: "I feel this is the time we need to try what's best going forward for us as a team. So based on that, we decided this."
However, Jos Buttler’s 131 and Harry Brook’s 95* took England to 257/3 in 20 overs. Despite half-centuries by Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma, India only managed 201/8 in 20 overs to lose the game by 56 runs.
"I was so upset with the interview after the toss. This is not the way to talk. How you are treating your players, how you are forming a young team, is important. If this is the way forward, the way forward is to change everybody (leadership group). He said we want to take the best way forward.
If you are willing to drop players based on their performance, the same yardstick should apply to Gautam Gambhir, and the same yardstick should apply to the captain also. You are saying the players are not performing. What has been your performance? What wrong did Vaibhav Sooryavanshi do? Is this how you groom young players?” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.
Sooryavanshi was included in the Indian squad after smashing 776 runs in IPL 2026 for Rajasthan Royals with one century and five fifties with a strike rate of 237. He also hit 72 sixes in the IPL 2026 season, breaking Chris Gayle’s record for most maximums in a single IPL season.
While the teenager showed flashes of his explosive talent, he struggled to replicate his domestic dominance, registering scores of 14, 13, and 15, and falling to England paceman Jofra Archer twice in three innings.
Srikkanth defended Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and drew parallels with his own experience of captaining a 16-year-old Sachin Tendulkar during the 1989 India tour of Pakistan.
"Shreyas Iyer said at the toss, 'we want to get back to the best way possible'. Is this your best way forward? What is this interview? If you thought Sanju Samson was the best fit, then you should have continued with him. Why bring in Vaibhav and then drop him? Why spoil his future? You are all ruining his confidence.
When Sachin Tendulkar made his debut at 16, I went up and told him, 'you won't be dropped in this tour. You play fearlessly. Should Gambhir and Shreyas not give Sooryavanshi that kind of confidence? It's not fair. I am very upset with the way they are treating Vaibhav Sooryavanshi,” Srikkanth added.
Indian team’s next T20I assignment will be against Zimbabwe later this month, and while Sooryavanshi has been retained in the squad for the three-match series in Harare, Sanju Samson has been rested.