Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 4 (ANI): Ahead of India’s second T20I against England, former Indian cricketer Parthiv Patel said that he feels that 15-year-old prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will get a chance at some point in the five-match series and the communication of the staff with him will be very important.
India will play England in the second T20I of the five-match series after the first one ended in a no result. With a dominant show in the series, India aims to avoid the stain of a 0-2 series whitewash against Ireland as they search for their first victory under newly-appointed T20I skipper Shreyas Iyer. Notably, despite all the hype surrounding him, Sooryavanshi has not made his international debut.
Speaking on JioStar’s ‘Game Plan’, Parthiv said, “I feel Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will definitely get an opportunity at some point in this series. But at this stage, communication is extremely important. When you’re part of the coaching staff, you have to make sure you communicate clearly with the players. Even if you are not going to play him, you have to tell him that. He is a 15-year-old kid, so you need to be very careful with him and advise him to be patient.”
He also noted that a lot of players have done well, such as Ishan Kishan, the number one T20I batter, Sanju Samson, the ICC T20 World Cup ‘Player of the Tournament’ who has had four failures so far and world number two batter Abhishek Sharma.
“There are a lot of players who have also done really well. Sanju Samson was the Player of the Tournament in the T20 World Cup. Ishan Kishan, who is batting at three, is the ICC’s No. 1-ranked T20I batter, while Abhishek Sharma is No. 2. At this point, there is no place for Vaibhav in the XI, and that needs to be communicated to him really well,” he added.
Notably, before the match, India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel defended the team management’s decision to delay Sooryavanshi’s international debut, stressing the importance of backing experienced and in-form players in the current setup.
Morkel pointed to Abhishek Sharma’s status as India’s leading T20 batter and Sanju Samson’s standout role as Player of the World Cup.”
I think we just need to respect the fact that we’ve got the number one batter, or we had our number one batter in T20 cricket, Abhishek Sharma. You know, Sanju was the player of the World Cup,” Morkel told reporters ahead of the second T20I.
Morkel acknowledged the excitement surrounding young Sooryavanshi but stressed that it is important to give confidence and security to the existing group.
“I think as a coaching staff, it’s only fair to show faith and back your players. Yes, there’s a young man knocking on the door, and it’s exciting. But I reckon for not just those two players at the top, but for the rest of the group, it’s a good sign that we show that we back you guys,” he added. (ANI)
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