Former Indian head coach Rahul Dravid has asserted that the Indian team management, headed by Gautam Gambhir, needs to be patient with the Indian teen batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in terms of giving him a chance in Test cricket.
Speaking to JioHotstar, Rahul revealed why he believes Sooryavanshi can make it into the Indian Test XI. Notably, breaking into the current Indian Test team would be a tough task as the XI looks settled at the moment.
“With Vaibhav (Sooryavanshi), you’ve got to be patient. He’s only 15 years old, and from what I’ve seen of the kid, I have no doubt that, given the opportunity to practice and play domestic cricket and a couple of seasons of red-ball cricket, he will be able to hold his own in the Test match team. Whether he’ll be able to break into the XI with the guys already performing, that’s a different story and a tricky one,” Dravid said while speaking to JioHotstar.
Sooryavanshi started this calendar year with a 175-run knock in the ICC U19 World Cup final against England to propel India to the title. Later, he amassed 776 runs in 16 matches at a strike rate of 237.30 in the recently concluded IPL 2026 season to emerge as the Orange Cap winner.
Furthermore, Dravid believes that Sooryavanshi will be busy playing in the white-ball format for India in the coming years, and it’s yet to be seen whether the teen batting prodigy can play two full seasons in domestic cricket.
“Whether he’ll have the time to play two full seasons of domestic cricket because he’ll be so busy playing for India in the white-ball format, I’m not sure about that. So skill-wise, I think there is no problem; whether he will be able to do it because of schedules might be a bit trickier,” Dravid added.
