Former dashing Indian opener Virender Sehwag has reckoned that the teen batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s thinking is somewhat similar to his in terms of hitting the ball right from ball one.
During a discussion at the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s annual session in New Delhi on Saturday, Sehwag shared his opinion on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and also responded to a question when asked if age matters in playing the game.
“Sooryavanshi is in his prime, and his thinking is somewhat similar to mine, that of hitting right from the first ball. Now, it is about when he gets the opportunity and how many matches he plays for India,” Sehwag said at the event.
“Look, if you are playing in an age-category, it makes sense – if it’s Under-19, your age should be under 19. But once you play the IPL or play for India, age doesn’t matter. ‘A 38- or 40-year-old (Virat) Kohli is playing, and a 15-year-old (Vaibhav) Sooryavanshi is also playing. Then, performance matters,” he added.
Sooryavanshi has played eight T20Is and has scored 246 runs at an average of 30.75 and a strike rate of 186.36, with two half-centuries. He received his senior T20I cap against England on July 4 at age 15. He is currently part of India’s T20I squad for the five-match series against the West Indies.
India’s T20I squad vs WI: Shreyas Iyer [C], Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan [WK], Sanju Samson [WK], Tilak Varma [VC], Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Naman Dhir
