The 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi received a lot of praise from former England captain Michael Vaughan, but he also pointed out one area where the young player would require some improvement: fielding.
Sooryavanshi played as an impact substitute in a few IPL 2026 games, and even the young player was perplexed by RR's strategy because, according to one of the coaches, Sooryavanshi takes great care in his fielding.
Vaughan asked Harry Brook's England to take advantage of the situation and ask India to bowl first whenever they win the toss in the upcoming five-match T20I series, which will start in Durham on July 1. He stated that nobody really knows whether Sooryavanshi can handle the workload of being in the field first.
"The one thing he's going to have to cope with is his fielding. There's no impact sub where he can sit on the bench. If I were England, I'd ask India to field first because then by the time Sooryavanshi comes to bat, he might be tired," Michael Vaughan said on Ajinkya Rahane's YouTube channel.
While Vaughan believes that Sooryavanshi might get tired after fielding for 20 overs, the 15-year-old showed his fitness in the recent A team tri-series in Sri Lanka, where he played all the games and remained on the field when India bowled.
Additionally, Vaughan thinks that Sooryavanshi has dominated the T20 format and that his style of play has raised the shortest format's par score to 230. The left-handed hitter has conveyed a message to the globe about the proper way to play T20 cricket, he continued.
“There's only one name that is being talked about here, and that is the 15-year-old kid. I think T20 cricket, particularly through Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, has taken the game to 230 being a par score. I think that is the norm now; teams are looking to get 230-plus. Opening batters are going harder than ever. It is almost as if a 15-year-old has sent a message to the rest of the world that T20 cricket can go to another level,” Vaughan said.
India has chosen to continue with Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson as openers for the first T20I against Ireland, as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi warmed the bench. It remains to be seen when the 15-year-old makes his India debut in T20Is.
