3 min readUpdated: Jun 5, 2026 09:38 PM IST
Former England captain Nasser Hussain has put his weight behind teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, saying that he should be fast-tracked to the Indian senior team. Sooryavanshi, who will be in action for India A in a tri-series in Sri Lanka next week, was the Orange Cap winner in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) season with 776 runs in 16 matches.
“Such an easy answer to give to that is that yes, he has to play. I didn’t watch too much of the IPL to be honest, but I watched clips of Sooryavanshi and what an incredible talent. So anywhere else in the world you would say get him in. But usually at the toss you just have to name 11 players. In international cricket, who do you leave out for him?,” Hussain said in the ICC Review.
“India have a list of batters they could play and should play, but in the end, someone makes such a case, such a consistent case, and such an incredible case for being picked. In the end, you have to say, I don’t care who we’re leaving out, this lad has to play,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sooryavanshi could be included in the senior squad for their T20I tour of Ireland which is scheduled to be announced on Saturday. The Indian Express had learnt earlier that the 15-year-old is in contention to be part of the team that is scheduled to play two T20Is in the country. Sooryavanshi followed up a remarkable debut in the 2025 IPL by winning the Orange cap in the recently concluded 2026 edition of the tournament. He scored 776 runs in 16 innings at a scarcely believable strike rate of 237.30 and average of 48.50 with one century and five half-centuries.
Sooryavanshi missed out on centuries by a whisker in both of Rajasthan Royals’ playoff matches. Over the course of the innings against SRH in the Eliminator, Sooryavanshi broke Chris Gayle’s record for most sixes in a single season of the IPL. The West Indies great had set it just a year after Sooryavanshi was born. He eventually fell on 97 off 29 balls at a ridiculous strike rate of 334.48.
In RR’s next match against Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2, Sooryavanshi was more measured in his approach with his side losing wickets at the other end, thus showing a different facet to his game. Even then, he eventually accelarated and was dismissed on 96 off 47 balls.
