Tri-series: Vaibhav’s adaptability to be tested in 50-over format in Sri Lanka

The India A squad which landed in Colombo on Friday, 5 June for a List A (50-over) tri-series with Sri Lanka and Afghanistan is not short on star power, with the likes of T20 World Cup winner Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaikwad and the promising Priyansh Arya. But all the buzz is centred around Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who will share the dressing room of a senior India outfit for the first time.

‘’Here comes trouble,’’ posted well-known Sri Lankan cricket writer Rex Clementine on Facebook, dropping a hint about his expectations of the 15-year-old, who held the cricketing fraternity in thrall while emerging as the highest scorer of IPL 2026. All five matches of the tri-series will be played in Dambulla in a round robin format, with the top two finishers meeting in the final on 21 June.

It could well be a test of Vaibhav’s adaptability in the longer white-ball format on the slow Lankan surface, with both the hosts and Afghanistan promising decent spin attacks. Meanwhile, a bigger break could be round the corner for the wunderkind as he is heavily tipped to be on the flight to the UK in July with the senior India team for T20Is against Ireland and England in testing conditions.

Come Saturday, 6 June, and Ajit Agarkar & Co. will be meeting in Mumbai to select multiple India squads as well as name a new T20 captain looking beyond the 35-year-old Suryakumar Yadav, who led India to a successful title defence in the T20 World Cup at home. The skipper's batting form has posed a serious concern for over a year now, and the buzz is that Shreyas Iyer is the frontrunner for the hot seat with Sanju Samson, Player of the Tournament in World T20, being another option.

The squads to be selected on Saturday are for the two-match T20I series against Ireland; the high profile five-match T20I series vs England; the 2026 Asian Games (T20 format) and India A’s two multi-day matches in Sri Lanka. Even though India’s Test match starts against Afghanistan in Mullanpur on Saturday, all eyes will be riveted on the selection meeting.

Meanwhile, Vaibhav’s inclusion for the England series became a talking point on the sidelines of the England vs New Zealand Test at Lord’s.  Speaking on his YouTube channel, former England pace bowler and TV pundit Steven Finn hoped to see him when India go on tour for five T20Is and three ODIs in July.

‘’I would love to see him in an Indian shirt in the UK summer. The problem is that they (India) are the world champions, and it’ll be an incredibly tough call on those opening the batting now. Yet, whoever he replaces, he would make the team better,’’ Finn said on his For the Love of Cricket channel. With Abhishek Sharma and Samson forming an explosive pair at the top, Vaibhav makes the cut as a back-up opener.

‘’The question entering this season was if he could do it again and be consistent. The most staggering thing is that he struck at 236 across 700-plus runs against the best bowlers in the world. To sustain that for a full season as a 15-year-old is mindblowing. He was the story of this IPL. And people say the yorker is his lone weakness, but that’s so tough to execute with the new ball that if that’s your only weakness, you would almost take that,’’ Finn added.

Schedule for tri-series

9 June: India A vs Sri Lanka A

11 June: India A vs Afghanistan A

15 June: India A vs Sri Lanka A

17 June: India A vs Afghanistan A

21 June: Final

All matches at Dambulla