In a big move, India dropped Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for the fifth and final T20I against England at The Rose Bowl, Southampton on Saturday (July 11).
Sooryavanshi made history by making his international debut in the second T20I at Old Trafford last week. At just 15 years and 99 days old, the southpaw broke Sachin Tendulkar's long-standing record as the youngest-ever Indian to debut in men’s international cricket.
However, the young prodigy failed to live up to the expectations in his first three outings, returning with scores of 14 (10 balls), 13 (5 balls) and 15 (10 balls).
While Sooryavanshi displayed glimpses of his explosive talent by hitting sixes against premier pacers like Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue, he failed to set the international stage on fire in his debut series. As it turned out, the left-hander was replaced by Sanju Samson in the fifth T20I.
The decision to drop Sooryavanshi sparked a lot of outrage, with fans slamming the Gautam Gambhir-led Indian team management for destroying the teenager’s confidence.
Here are the reactions:
India have already conceded an unassailable 0-3 lead to England in the T20I series. The Men in Blue will look to salvage some pride by registering a consolation win in the fifth match.
The visiting skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to field first in Southampton. In another change in India's playing XI, Washington Sundar was replaced by Suryavansh Shedge.
India’s playing XI for 5th T20I: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer(c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Prasidh Krishna
England’s playing XI for 5th T20I: Philip Salt, Jos Buttler(w), Harry Brook(c), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue
