Vaibhav: Senior India debut beckons, but who makes way?

Build-ups to all of India’s T20I series in Ireland have been usually tepid affairs — treated more as the BCCI’s obligatory stop en route a tour of England. However, the two-match series which starts in Belfast tomorrow, 26 June, has a distinct buzz around it, given the possibility of one of the most talked about international cricket debuts in recent times: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

It will be quite a dilemma for Gautam Gambhir and his new T20 captain, Shreyas Iyer, as to who to drop from the playing XI which helped the Men in Blue retain the T20 World Cup only last March. The top three currently are Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan — men in form whose overall and recent T20 records are hard to ignore — and the 15-year-old can come in only as an opener. The slots in the senior team have been so watertight that Iyer will actually be filling the gap left by the snub to former skipper Suryakumar Yadav.

There could be some external pressure (read official broadcasters) to see Vaibhav out in the park and should that happen, he will be the youngest ever Indian cricketer to make a senior international debut in any format. Come Friday, the boy will be 15 years and 91 days old, a fair bit younger than master Sachin Tendulkar’s 16 years and 205 days when he made his Test debut against a feared Pakistan attack in 1989. Tendulkar went on to make his ODI debut on the same tour at 16 years and 238 days.

T20Is were yet to be born then, and it was Washington Sundar, the spinning allrounder from Tamil Nadu, who was the youngest Indian debutant in this format before Vaibhav, at 18 years and 80 days in 2017. Incidentally, Tendulkar himself broke the nearly 40-year-old record of Pakistan captain Mushtaq Mohammed.

Mushtaq, younger brother of the legendary Hanif Mohammed, made his Test debut at 15 years and 124 days against the West Indies in 1959. Interestingly, promising Pakistan batter Hasan Raza eclipsed both Mushtaq and Tendulkar when he made his Test debut against Zimbabwe in 1996 at 14 years and 227 days, but failed to do justice to his early promise.

However, those were pre-social media days, when the corporatisation of the game was just about taking root. It’s not easy to be a Vaibhav, essentially a product of the IPL era who literally stormed his way — against warnings from several pundits — into the seniors’ party with a phenomenal IPL season and a steady upward performance graph for both Under-19s as well as India A.

The blazing 29-ball 94 for India A against Sri Lanka A in the tri-series one-day final at Dambulla last week vindicated the selectors’ gamble on his readiness to dance with the big boys.

His tender age has already made him privy to two benefits: the BCCI has permitted his parents to accompany him on the UK tour and will bear their expenses, while media reports say Vaibhav will be provided a separate change room as per UK laws for minors. Be it the Rajasthan Royals management in IPL or the BCCI, all have taken conscious efforts to help Vaibhav cut out the noise and focus on the game.

The job is easier said than done as it’s one debut that has aroused curiosity levels even in the US, with the New York Times devoting a feature to him in its digital edition with the headline: 'The boy from Bihar: The making of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Indian cricket’s 15-year-old batting prodigy'.  

The real test for Vaibhav, who will also be part of the squad in the T20Is against England, begins now!

YOUNGEST INDIAN DEBUTANTS

Sachin Tendulkar (16 yrs 205 days) Tests 1989

Sachin Tendulkar (16 yrs 238 days) ODIs 1989

Washington Sundar (18 yrs 80 days) T20I 2017

Parthiv Patel (17 yrs 152 days) Tests 2002