Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s inclusion in the Indian Cricket Team earlier this year was certainly record-breaking. He became the youngest player to ever represent India in international cricket.
However, despite having been a regular in the T20I squad for the Men in Blue for the past few months, the 15-year-old has only played a handful of matches and is still the second-choice opener behind Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson.
Now, many are raising the question of whether Sooryavanshi should start for India in the second T20I against the West Indies. Especially with the game being played in the capital of the neighbouring state of his native Bihar, Jharkhand. We are going to answer that question – will Vaibhav Sooryavanshi play the 2nd T20I vs WI?
Will Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Play Today The 2nd T20I vs WI
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was first announced in the Indian T20 squad for the two-match series against Ireland in June of this year. This selection came after a sensational IPL 2026 season, where the teenager from Bihar became the youngest player ever to win the Orange Cap. He scored 776 runs at an average of 48.50 and an insane strike rate of 237.30 in 16 matches.
Vaibhav did not play a single game against Ireland, both of which India lost. Then, in the T20I series against England, he played three out of five games, scoring 14, 13, and 15 runs, respectively.
In the following three-game series against Zimbabwe, Sooryavanshi scored two fifties, made 151 runs across three games, and was named the Player of the Series.
His last two games, to date, in the Indian jersey came in the 2026 Asian Games, where he played the semi-final and the final against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, scoring 38 and 15 runs, respectively. Was announced for the ongoing India vs West Indies T20I series but was left out of the lineup for the first game.
However, despite some decent performances already while playing for India, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is still not the first-choice opener for the national team in T20Is. And there are several reasons behind it.
Some believe the 15-year-old is not ready for the biggest stage just yet. But even if we disregard that very subjective notion, India already has a fixed opening duo in the shortest format and no reason to change it.
The first opener who has established his place in the playing 11 is Abhishek Sharma. The No. 2-ranked T20I batter in the world has an average of over 32 and a near-200 strike rate in international T20 cricket. He has also scored three centuries in the format, the most recent of which came less than a month ago against Afghanistan.
And while Sharma goes through patches of brilliant and poor form, he is one of the very rare breeds of true match-winners who can single-handedly win a game for their side.
The second regular T20I Indian opener is Sanju Samson. The Kerala-native played his first international game for India in 2015, and then sat out of the national team for five years. From 2020 to 2024, he struggled to make regular appearances for India due to inconsistency.
He started only one game for India in the group stage of the 2026 T20 World Cup, that too against Namibia. But after a crushing defeat to South Africa in the Super 8, opener Ishan Kishan was pushed to No. 3, and Samson started for India in the next game against Zimbabwe.
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However, in the next three games, all of which were either virtual knockouts or actual KO games, Sanju went on a run of his lifetime. He scored 97* in the final Super 8 match against the West Indies, made 89 against England in the semis, and then another 89 in the final against New Zealand. On the back of this three-game run, Sanju Samson was named the Player of the Tournament and has since been India’s regular opener in T20Is.
The question now stands: if Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is brought into the playing XI to open, who will he replace? It is not even feasible to push one of the current openers to be pushed down the order, as India’s middle order is quite cemented, with Ishan Kishan, skipper Shreyas Iyer, and Tilak Varma being perfect at No. 3, 4, and 5.
What message will it send to all the current and prospective players of the national team that an established player, who has been in fine form at some point in this very year, can be moved out of the team just to bring in the latest hot shot?
Former Indian cricketer and current commentator Aakash Chopra has shared similar beliefs. Speaking in a recent video on his YouTube channel, Chopra had this to say regarding the possibility of Sooryavanshi starting for India against the West Indies.
“Since Bihar is in the neighbourhood, there is talk of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Will there be a chance of him playing? No, it won’t be there. You will have to agree that it cannot happen that he plays now, and if we start saying this about Sanju Samson after every match, then we are damned. How will you manage cricket then? Just don’t go there,” he said.
So, to answer the question – will Vaibhav Sooryavanshi play the 2nd T20I vs WI? It is very unlikely. However, seeing how comfortably India won the first match of this series, there is a small chance that head coach Gautam Gambhir tries to experiment with the playing 11 and give some players a chance.
But it is more likely that such experiments would be left for the third T20I, on the condition that the Men in Blue win the second match and seal this India vs West Indies T20I series.
Check Out: Will Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Play The 2nd T20I vs WI
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