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 his historic international debut in the second T20I of the series 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, returning with scores of 14, 13, and 15 in three outings. He eventually faced the axing as the visitors brought Sanju Samson back in the playing XI for the fifth T20I.
Amid the setback, former India cricketer WV Raman threw his weight behind Sooryavanshi, urging the Indian team management to let the teenager bat the way he does and give him a long rope.
"Don't even look at what he does. If you have taken the call of picking him in the side, you think he is good enough. His talent is never in doubt. He is a young kid. Quite obviously, he will be given a lot of attention. What I am suggesting is, don't look at the numbers. Just let that boy play 15-20 games on the trot. You see what he is capable of doing. I am sure he will do extraordinarily well once he gets the confidence and keeps playing regularly. He has not looked to do something different, which is important. Within his framework, he will try and learn to do what he needs to do better," Raman told RevSportz.
"Let him work it out himself. The success he had in the IPL was primarily due to what he felt he needed to do and what he was capable of doing. Let him see to what extent his methods, that he has adapted to succeed in the IPL, works out in international cricket. Then maybe if he wants to have a chat, people can have a chat with him. It should come from there," he added.
India lost the fifth T20I by 56 runs, allowing England to complete a 4-0 series sweep. This result follows a humiliating 0-2 series defeat to Ireland.
The Indian batting unit was unable to handle the extra bounce generated by fast bowlers on the tour of UK, and struggled to adapt to the alien conditions. However, WV Raman believes it would be too early to pass a verdict on the young batters.
"We cannot be judgmental just going by a few games. The kind of preparations being carried out need to be looked into. It also depends on the kind of conversations they have. The conversations in the dressing room should stay there. It cannot be something that needs to be put out. These youngsters need to be given a string of chances, and then you come to a conclusion. When I say string of chances, I am referring to 15-20 games," Raman said.
"These youngsters who are talented and the team management thinks can do the job in the forthcoming World Cup, they need to be played regularly regardless of what results they churn out. So they get the feel of it and learn if they falter and get better by playing regularly, so that in the long term, everybody benefits," he further remarked.
