India cricket team batting coach Sitanshu Kotak opened up on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi‘s chances of making his T20I debut in the IRE vs IND 1st T20I on Friday in Belfast and made a bold claim. The 15-year-old, who earned his maiden Team India call-up for the series against Ireland and England, will become the youngest player to play for India if he is handed the Indian cap in Belfast on Friday. While there is a lot of hype around Sooryavanshi’s possible debut. Kotak said that it would be unfair to drop any player who has been scoring runs in order to accommodate Vaibhav in the playing XI.
Will Vaibhav Sooryavanshi make his T20I debut?
Speaking at the pre-match press conference on the eve of the IRE vs IND 1st T20I, Kotak opined that the team shouldn’t drop a player who has been scoring runs just to give Sooryavanshi an opportunity. Should India hand the 15-year-old his debut in the IRE vs IND 1st T20I, then either Sanju Samson or Abhishek Sharma will have to sit out in order to accommodate the youngster in the playing XI. And It is pertinent to point out that Sharma and Samson have been India’s go-to openers in T20Is who have performed regularly.
“I’m sure that he (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi) will get his dues and opportunity. So I don’t think that just to give him an opportunity, we should drop someone who has already been scoring runs. That also won’t be right. Obviously, it depends on the team management and what we plan to do in this match. But I think it’s a very thin line between trying to give somebody an opportunity when you are being unfair to some other player,” Kotak said.
After a phenomenal IPL 2026 season where he emerged as the Orange Cap winner with 776 runs, at an average of 46.50 and a mind-boggling strike rate of 237.30, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi earned his maiden India call-up for the series against Ireland and England.
Samson, who was named the Player of the Tournament for his heroics in the knockout stage of the T20 World Cup, managed to score 477 runs from 14 games in IPL 2026. Abhishek, on the other hand, amassed 563 runs in 15 matches. Chances are that the captain and the team management could opt for a rotational policy, and bench Samson for the 1st T20I and Sharma in the 2nd while giving Sooryavanshi a chance to feature in both the T20Is.
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