Former Indian chairman of selectors and commentator Kris Srikkanth has shared his views on the teen Indian batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi giving away his wicket in the Asian Games 2026 gold medal clash against their arch-rivals Pakistan.
Notably, the opening batter managed to score only 15 runs off nine balls with two sixes, following his 38-run knock off 21 balls in the semi-final against Sri Lanka. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Srikkanth expressed his disappointment over Sooryavanshi’s dismissals.
“It wasn’t Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s shot at all; why play it? I don’t know why Vaibhav was in a hurry. He had already hit two sixes. He should have waited and taken his time. Don’t play like me; you are a big player and someone who’s going to become a legend of legends.”
Further, Srikkanth reserved special praise for Sooryavanshi’s opening partner, Abhishek Sharma, who scored an exceptional 61-run knock off 28 balls to give India a perfect start in the gold medal match.
“Abhishek Sharma adjusted superbly to a slow turning wicket. Because of that, he played on the back foot and never committed on the front foot. Whereas Vaibhav Suryavanshi was committed to the front foot. Abhishek has the big-match temperament, as he played a similar knock against New Zealand in the T20 World Cup final,” he added.
Team India suffered a mini-collapse in the middle overs and fell to 133/5 in the 15th over. However, Tilak Varma’s unbeaten 51 runs off 22 balls helped India to post a whopping total of 211/6 in 20 overs.
“Tilak Varma played a superb blinder at the end. The small partnerships for each wicket mattered a lot. But Tilak played a defining innings, and he seems to be a very dangerous player at the end of an innings. I rate his knock very highly because it wasn’t an easy wicket to bat on,” he concluded.
