Former Indian spinner and commentator Murali Kartik has expressed disbelief over the teen batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi batting at No.3 in the second T20I against New Zealand, which India won by four wickets to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
For the unversed, Sooryavanshi batted at No.3 for the first time, taking over injured Ishan Kishan’s spot in the playing XI. Speaking on Sony Sports Network, Karthik slammed the team management for their decision to bat the 15-year-old at No.3.
“I was repeatedly saying this, even before the match started, especially before our batting, when you are playing Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, where is he at his best? He is good as an opener,” Kartik said while speaking on Sony Sports.
“You have put him in the middle order. He hasn’t played there; he is a young kid and he has only batted in one way. This is exactly why you have experienced players, so they can play different roles,” Kartik added.
“In my opinion today, although they won the match, which is a different matter, if you are playing Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, he should have opened,” Kartik noted.
On the other hand, former Indian opener Sadagoppan Ramesh asserted that Sooryavanshi should have opened the innings. Notably, the teen batter managed to score only four runs off eight balls.
“He should have opened. As a youngster, as soon as the management told him that he would bat at No.3, he would have panicked. He played only because Ishan Kishan was injured. Though it wasn’t wrong of the management not to break the opening combination, Suryavanshi doesn’t have the experience at No.3. His strength is batting at 0/0 with the anticipation of whether he’s going to hit a six or four off his first delivery,” Sadagoppan Ramesh said on his Instagram channel.
