Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, contrary to expectations, will not make his India debut in the firs T20I against Ireland in Belfast on Friday.

On the eve of the match, batting coach Sitanshu Kotak had hinted the 15-year-old would not make the cut when he stated it would be unfair to push Sooryavanshi ahead of established names in the batting order.

“Vaibhav is very talented, there is no doubt. And the way he has batted in IPL and all the other games, there is no need to tell that he has got a lot of natural abilities. Because in IPL he has faced Jofra, a lot of quick bowlers, a lot of experienced bowlers. And it seems that nothing is bothering him. So he is obviously an extraordinary talent,” he said.

“Today evening, captain and head coach will decide about the team. And if he plays great, if he doesn’t play also for me, that is great because he is part of Indian team. And 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. I think there is a very thin line between trying to give somebody an opportunity and you are being unfair to some other player,” said Kotak.

At the toss, captain Shreyas Iyer confirmed that Sooryavanshi will have wait for his chance to make his international debut.

“He is a gun player but we have a group of players who have been in tremendous form and w He’s a gun player but we have some tremendous players who have done well for us so we are backing them. He will get his chance when the time comes,” Iyer said.

India won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Published on Jun 26, 2026