India’s newly appointed T20I captain Shreyas Iyer had a tough decision and announcement to make as he revealed that teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is benched in the 1st T20I against Ireland.
On Friday in Belfast, the IND vs IRE series kicked off India’s journey towards the 2028 T20 World Cup under Iyer, who replaced Suryakumar Yadav as the skipper of the reigning champions and also at No. 4 in the side.
There had been a huge debate among the fans and experts regarding how India could fit Sooryavanshi into the XI because that would mean breaking up the first-choice opening combination of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma, who have both cemented their places at the top.
Sooryavanshi had earned his maiden India call-up through a historic, record-breaking IPL 2026 campaign where he belted 776 runs at a strike rate close to 240 and smashed 72 sixes, breaking Chris Gayle’s record for the most sixes in a single IPL edition from 2012 of 59 maximums.
He had also cracked an 11-ball fifty against Sri Lanka A in the recent A-team tri-series final. However, all of this was still not enough for the 15-year-old to break the door on the settled opening combo of Samson-Abhishek.
IND vs IRE: Why Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Is Not Playing Today In 1st T20? Shreyas Iyer explains
Iyer confirmed at the toss that Sooryavanshi is not part of the playing XI today as India will continue with the opening pair of Samson and Abhishek. But Iyer hinted that Sooryavanshi will soon get his T20I debut.
Iyer said at the toss, “Unfortunately, no. (Vaibhav) He is a gun player. But obviously, we’ve got tremendous, experienced players in the squad who have done brilliantly in the past couple of series for India. So we are backing majority of our cricketers who have been doing absolutely marvellous throughout the season. I think he will get his opportunity when the time comes.”
Samson was the Man of the Tournament at the T20 World Cup, hitting 97*, 89, and 89 in three consecutive matches – virtual knockout group game vs West Indies, semi-final vs England, and final vs New Zealand. Abhishek slammed a fifty in the final, and the left-hander is the No. 1 ranked ICC T20I batsman right now.
Sooryavanshi might make his T20I debut somewhere on this trip of the UK, which includes two T20Is against Ireland and five against England.
However, Iyer, and India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak yesterday, made it clear that Samson and Abhishek are the premier openers for now and will remain so as long as they are in form.
“I am sure that he will get his dues and his opportunities. 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,” Kotak had said on the eve of the 1st T20I.
“Obviously, it depends on the team management… what we plan to do in this match. That is a different thing. But I think it is a very thin line between trying to give somebody an opportunity and you being unfair to some other player.”
Meanwhile, Harshit Rana makes his return to professional cricket after recovering from an injury that kept him out of action for the last four months.
Arshdeep, Prasidh, and Harshit are the three frontline seamers in India’s playing XI today, with Axar and Washington the two spinners. Shivam Dube is the sixth bowling option.
IND vs IRE Playing XIs
India: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Shreyas Iyer (C), Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh
Ireland: Tim Tector, Lorcan Tucker (C, wk), Benjamin Calitz, Liam McCarthy, Ross Adair, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Matthew Humphreys, Jai Moondra, Harry Tector, Matthew Hollard
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