Former Indian cricketer Kris Srikkanth has expressed his disappointment with the Indian team management for not including the teen batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in the XI in the ongoing T20I series against the West Indies.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Srikkanth asserted that Sooryavanshi’s confidence would be dented if he doesn’t receive enough opportunities. Notably, India has utilised Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma as their opening pair in the concluded three T20Is.
“India have totally spoiled Sooryavanshi. He could have been given three matches against an ordinary team like the West Indies. Now that they’ve seen Abhishek for so long, he can be rested, and Suryavanshi and Samson can open in the next match,” Srikkanth said.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has scored 246 runs in his T20I career for India across 8 matches at an average of 30.75 and a strike rate of 186.36.
Further, Srikkanth lashed out at the dashing opening batter Sanju Samson for his inconsistent run ahead of the fourth T20I. Samson scored 96 runs in three games against the West Indies, including his highest score of 82 in the second T20I in Ranchi.
“Samson has always been up and down. His consistency has always been questionable. He’ll suddenly do wonders like the World Cup and then suddenly fail a lot. Someone like Abhishek Sharma never has such extremes. Now, again, Samson will score in the next match,” said Srikkanth.
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
