India's teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is warming the bench in the ongoing five-match T20I series against the West Indies.
After handing the 15-year-old his debut international cap on the tour of England in July, India played musical chairs with the opening slot. While Abhishek Sharma is a regular fixture, Sanju Samson and Sooryavanshi for the remaining position.
Ahead of the Asian Games 2026, the Gautam Gambhir-led Indian team management played Samson as an opener against Afghanistan despite Sooryavanshi delivering Player-of-the-Series performance in the previous T20I series in Zimbabwe.
During the Asiad on tricky Japan pitches, both Samson and Sooryavanshi feature in the playing XI, with the former dropping to No. 3 and the latter opening alongside Abhishek.
However, Sooryavanshi was left out of the lineup once the team resumed bilateral action against the West Indies at home. His absence from the first three T20Is has sparked intense debate.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's childhood coach, Manish Ojha, has publicly criticized the team management, calling the treatment a "dictatorship" and arguing that keeping a generational talent on the bench serving water harms the player's development.
"According to me, Vaibhav is like a storm. Whoever tries to take him on will eventually break, if not today, then tomorrow," Manish told Sports Now.
"This current Indian team management feels that they make players by keeping them on the bench. There are many other legends of cricket; you talk to them, and everyone will say that if we have to prepare the next generation of players, they must be put into those situations; they must be made to play. Sitting on the bench, no player has ever been made, nor will they be. And especially if such talent is kept on the bench," he added.
"Then either they have made up their mind that this kid will not be given a chance... keep him out and frustrate him so much. He is sitting outside and serving water. I feel that the management that is here right now is practising a kind of dictatorship where whatever comes to mind, they will do," he further remarked.
India are leading the five-T20I series by 2-1 against the West Indies. It remains to be seen whether Sooryavanshi gets a chance in the penultimate match in Hyderabad on Wednesday (October 14).
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has represented India in 8 T20Is so far, scoring 246 runs at an average of 30.75 and a strike rate of 186.36, including two half-centuries.
