4 min readApr 14, 2026 07:00 AM IST
Likely to be picked for this June’s India T20I tour to Ireland, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi could become the youngest player to represent the country. The Indian Express understands that the selectors might give the 15-year-old the big break in the short series just before a white-ball tour of England.
“He is in contention for the Ireland tour and the selectors have shortlisted his name along with those of many other players,” a source in the Indian cricket board confirmed.
The left-hander, who has taken some of the best bowlers in the world to the cleaners in the last edition and continues in the same vein this year as well, has already hit a 26-ball 78 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, a 17-ball 52 against Chennai Super Kings and a 14-ball 39 against Mumbai Indians so far this season. He doesn’t seem overawed by reputation and has taken on the likes of Jasprit Bumrah – whom he hit for a six on the first ball he faced – and Josh Hazlewood with aplomb.
The national selectors are in no mood to wait before blooding the teenager into the Indian team, but are likely to give him his chance against slightly lesser opposition. If Sooryavanshi continues his impressive run-scoring spree, The Indian Express understands that the selection panel will pick him for the upcoming series in Ireland as well as the tour of Zimbabwe later this year.
The youngster has already got a vote of confidence from one of the top functionaries of the board.
“What an amazing batting display by Vaibhav Suryavanshi this @IPL 2026 season. This prodigy certainly deserves to debut for Team India @BCCI as the youngest given his performances. It’s rare you get chance to pick up someone so talented and sooooo young too. Certainly deserves his name to be recorded as youngest debutant for India,” IPL chairman Arun Dhumal wrote on X.
Even former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has asked the national selectors not to delay and pick Sooryavanshi immediately.
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Sachin Tendulkar is the youngest male cricketer to represent India, when he made his Test debut against Pakistan in Karachi in 1989 at the age of 16 years and 205 days. Overall, Shafali Verma is the youngest cricketer to play for India at the age of 15 years, seven months and 27 days. If Sooryavanshi plays on the tour to Ireland, he will break Shafali’s record. The two T20Is are scheduled for June 26 and 28.
The national selectors are in no mood to wait before blooding the teenager into the Indian team, but are likely to give him his chance against slightly lesser opposition. (File)
It is learnt that a largely second-string side will be picked for the series, which will be held less than a month after the culmination of the IPL. The selection committee is keen to give Sooryavanshi and other players who have caught the eye in recent times exposure to international cricket in that series.
It will be followed soon after by a tour of England where India will play five T20Is and three ODIs starting July 1, for which many of the senior players are expected to return.
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Describing his approach to batting, Sooryavanshi said he never thinks about the bowler against him, but the projectile coming towards him.
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“At the back of my mind, it is there (thought about who is bowling). But I try to play the ball and not the bowler, and play my own game … My dad, my coaches, my guardian (Rajasthan Royals team manager) Romi (Bhinder) sir, keep telling me that the journey is long, and to focus on my process and my game, without diverting my mind to different things,” he had said after the his team’s six-wicket win over RCB on Friday.
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