The clamour over Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s international debut seems to have grown louder following India’s most unexpected 0-2 reversal in the T20I series versus Ireland.

Ahead of the first T20I against England at Chester-le-Street on Wednesday, Vaibhav had a fair amount of practice along with the rest of his teammates during India’s training session on Tuesday, the game eve. But there’s no guarantee yet over whether the series opener against England will mark the teenage sensation’s India debut.

Going by what captain Shreyas Iyer said, it won’t be surprising if India continue to back the tried and tested.

“Look, all the players in the team have performed well. It’s not that only one individual has performed well.

“We have to build on that opportunity and security so that each individual has confidence going forward. The players who have won the last World Cup definitely have an idea of how to play T20 and continuously have been the main pillars of the format. So, it’s very important to back them,” Shreyas stressed.

When asked specifically if Sooryavanshi was going to make his India debut on Wednesday, Shreyas refused to divulge any information. “You never know what is going to happen. Our hands are also tied at the moment in terms of what we are going to do. This is very private,” he stated.

“This is something that we discuss in the team. We can’t let everyone know
about the combination we are going to play and let the opponents know that this is going to happen. He (Vaibhav) is a prodigy and whenever he gets an opportunity to play, he will definitely do brilliantly,” the skipper added.

If Sooryavanshi does go on to play in the series opener, he will, in most likelihood, open the innings which means one of the two openers — Sanju Samson or Abhishek Sharma — will have to sit out. Samson looked a little out of sorts in challenging conditions in Belfast. The axe may fall on him if Sooryavanshi gets his maiden India cap on Wednesday.