Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is poised to make his debut with the senior cricket team in the near future. At the age of only 15, if he makes his Team India debut, it will be historic. He has the chance to break Sachin Tendulkar’s record as well as the youngest ever cricketer to play for the senior cricket team.
Former cricketers and cricket experts have already started to laud in support of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s debut for the Men in Blue. But when? That’s the question.
Carlos Brathwaite compares Vaibhav Sooryavanshi with a young Brian Lara
Former West Indies cricketer Carlos Brathwaite compared Vaibhav with a young Brian Lara. Like Vaibhav’s cricket-playing skills, Lara’s talent was spotted early. Then, the management of West Indies cricket, instead of handing the debut cap to the young Brian Lara, kept the talent with the team to groom.
Carlos Brathwaite stated that the board decided to keep Brian Lara close to the legendary batter Vivian Richards. Lara was initially not in the squad, but with Richards. He kept learning about international cricket under the guidance of the experienced batter. Once Brian Lara turned more mature, the cricket board welcomed him officially into the squad.
Sir Vivian Richards groomed Brian Lara
“I apologise, Vaibhav, but if you look at how West Indies handled Brian Lara… he was a generational talent, everyone knew,” Carlos Brathwaite said after the young Indian batter’s 37-ball 103 for the Rajasthan Royals against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Jaipur. Though his effort went in vain as the Sunrisers Hyderabad chased the target over 200 with ease.
“So what did West Indies do? They put him in the mix with Viv Richards and whatnot, but he didn’t play [international cricket]. That was a different time with loads of tour games, and he cut his teeth with the senior players without having made his debut. And then we know how his career went once he debuted,” he said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show.
Why does he ask BCCI to put Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s Team India debut on hold?
The Windies’ former cricketer and cricket expert shared the story of Brian Lara to relate to the Indian cricket team dressing room. Icons like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are still active in international cricket. Suryakumar Yadav is the captain of the T20I team.
So, by sharing some time with these legends, the 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will get a lot of time for learning and gather knowledge about the highest order of the game. Additionally, there will be some younger players as well, so that the emerging batter can create a strong bond during the learning phase.
“So maybe there is the best of both worlds – where you can have him with the Indian team – learn from Virat [Kohli], learn from Rohit [Sharma], learn from Suryakumar Yadav. Some younger players are close to him in age, so he can learn from them before just throwing him in the deep end,” Carlos Brathwaite added in the conversation further.
Read More: 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi conquers Hinge, compared to Lamine Yamal after IPL carnage
