Sunil Gavaskar has raised the pressure on India’s selectors by calling for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to be used immediately in the T20I series opener against England at Chester-le-Street.
The debate has sharpened after India’s difficult Belfast stop, with Shreyas Iyer’s side now moving into a five-match England series that starts on 1 July. The ICC confirmed Sooryavanshi was named in India’s squads for both the Ireland and England assignments, while Iyer was installed as the new T20I captain in a group also featuring Abhishek Sharma, Axar Patel and Arshdeep Singh.
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Why the opener call matters
Gavaskar’s argument is simple: if India have picked a specialist powerplay disruptor, delaying him through another series risks wasting the very quality that made his selection bold. Sooryavanshi’s recent A-team burst in Sri Lanka underlined that ceiling, with Cricbuzz recording his 94 from 29 balls in India A’s 66-run final win over Sri Lanka A.
India’s top order already carries Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan, so selection is not straightforward. But England’s own white-ball reset, including James Coles’ call-up in the India T20I squad story, gives this series a wider experimental edge.
If Sooryavanshi plays at Durham, it will be more than a debut. It will be a public test of whether India are ready to back extreme youth when the calendar, the conditions and the noise are all pushing in the opposite direction.
