New Delhi: Sunil Gavaskar believes that teen prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is “God’s gift to Indian cricket” and needs to be picked for their upcoming white ball tour of England even if it comes at the cost of dropping an established top order batter from the playing eleven.
Gavaskar, who saw Sooryavanshi’s astonishing 29-ball-97 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL Eliminator, is floored by the chubby-cheeked boy wonder’s fearless strokeplay, especially the way he launched Pat Cummins for a straight six.
“2026 will be remembered as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Year. He (Sooryavanshi) is ready to play T20 International cricket,” Gavaskar said in a YouTube show Sports Tak.
“For England away T20 series, he will be selected. I mean he deserves to be selected after this brilliant show. If you don’t give him chance after this performance, when will you give him chance?
The former India skipper is quite sure that age shouldn’t be a factor as he is hitting all and sundry at the ripe age of 15.
“Don’t go by his age. He is hitting those bowlers who are older than him. In fact at 15, he is hitting bowlers with 15 years of international experience. Just look at his fearless approach,” Gavaskar said.
However, to accommodate Sooryavanshi in the playing XI, the team think tank would have to leave out either Abhishek Sharma or Sanju Samson.
“Yes there will be headache as to whom you should drop. But it is a happy headache to have. When your option is whom to drop, that speaks of your country’s depth of talent.
“I think he (Sooryavanshi) will be kept in squad of 15 or 16 but whether he will be in 11 or not can be decided later. But the experience he will gain in that dressing room will be priceless,” Gavaskar added.
For Gavaskar, a boy who hits straight sixes is anything but a slogger.
“What we saw yesterday, even when I take into account some of his earlier innings, was different. He is not just special, he is very, very extra-ordinarily special.
“When we visualize six hitters, the idea of a slogger comes to our mind. But this kid hits straight sixes — over long on and long off with technical perfectness.
God’s gift to Indian cricket
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“And when one bowls short balls, he comes inside the line and hooks and pulls it with such cleanliness, that’s a rarity. Not just me but everyone apart from SRH players were sad when he got out at 97 and missed the record for fastest century. Sooryavanshi is God’s gift to Indian cricket.”
Gavaskar had the fortune of seeing Sachin Tendulkar as a 15 year old playing for Mumbai and he didn’t exactly get into a comparison.
“Sachin had all qualities. He could attack, he could defend, all shots in the book. His balance was very different. When I saw him for first time, I thought that he too was God’s gift.
“The bats are different. That time Sachin played, bats were different and weren’t as powerful. You need bats like you get now to hit those sixes.”
Gavaskar was also emotional when Sooryavanshi came over towards him before pre-match practice and touched his feet.
“Our upbringing teaches us to respect our elders. Not just me, Sanjay Bangar was standing alongside me and he touched his feet also. He might have expected that I would say something and I told him ‘Lage Raho’ (Carry on).”
So what does Gavaskar expect from the boy?
“I don’t want that kid in him to grow up,” he said in jest.
