“Just not happy”: Sanjay Manjrekar slams Gautam Gambhir for delaying Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s debut

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi remains on the bench for the series decider against Ireland as well. Whether the team should allow the 15-year-old to play the match is debatable, but the former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has a straightforward answer on this topic.

As the Indian team management denies Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s debut match in Ireland, Manjrekar goes berserk against the management, as he is not ‘jumping on the Vaibhav Sooryavanshi bandwagon.

It’s not a good cricketing decision: Sanjay Manjrekar

Reflecting on the demands of modern cricket, Sanjay Manjrekar says that only a pair of explosive batter top of the batting order will not work, especially after the 34-run defeat in the first of the two-match T20I series. He believes that with Vaibhav in the team, India could have strengthened their middle-order batting by putting Sanju Samson in the middle order.

“It’s not a good cricketing decision. Actually, I am not jumping on the Vaibhav Sooryavanshi bandwagon. India wanted a good middle-order batter after what happened in the first T20I. The openers’ firing is not enough. You also want the batters following the firing. That was an area where India needed a pure batter in,” Sanjay Manjrekar said on the Sony Sports Network.

“The way to get Vaibhav in was to get him to open and have Sanju in the middle-order. I am just not happy. I would have wanted Vaibhav to open,” he added.

Two debutants for India in the second match against Ireland

India sustained a rare setback against Ireland in the previous game, where they lost the contest by a 34-run margin. It was Ireland’s first-ever win against the might Indian cricket team across the formats. Apart from Abhishek Sharma, who delivered a 50-run knock during the run chase, the other batters in the line-up failed to produce anything significant. Thus, the touring team had to suffer a defeat.

For today’s match, the Men in Blue keep their top order the same with Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, and Ishan Kishan. They have named all-rounder Suryansh Shedge and fast bowler Prince Yadav in the playing combination in place of all-rounder Washington Sundar and pacer Prasidh Krishna.

Washington and Prasidh both were too expensive with the ball in the match. With the inclusion of Suryansh, the Indian cricket team can expect some fireworks from the lower-middle order. For Suryansh Shedge and Prince Yadav, it is their debut match for the national team in the T20Is.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is just learning right now: Abhishek Sharma

Ahead of the second match, Abhishek Sharma said that it is their responsibility to make Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who is only 15, comfortable with his teammates. Abhishek mentioned that the young opener is in his learning phase.

“As a team, I think it’s our responsibility to make him comfortable. And obviously, he is a young guy, and what I felt was that he is very curious to play all the time. He is just learning right now.”

“He asks questions, so I feel he has that in himself, where he wants to learn a lot of things, and obviously, it’s a dream for him too. So we are trying our best to make him feel that he belongs in the group,” Abhishek told reporters.