A series loss to Ireland is not how Gautam Gambhir and Shreyas Iyer would have imagined their first international Tour as a coach-captain combination would start. After a 34-run loss in the first T20I, India fell short by one run in the second T20I. In the two T20Is, Sanju Samson scored 5 and 0, while his fellow opener Abhishek Sharma returned with 49 and 0. The turnaround time for India is very short. Starting from July 1, India will play a five-T20I series against England.
Sunil Gavaskar strongly advocated Sooryavanshi’s entry against England right from the start.
“I have been saying this for one month. Sooryavanshi, with the form that he is in, could have been played in both matches. In one match, you could have played Abhishek Sharma with Sooryavanshi; in the other, you could have made Abhishek bat lower and play Samson. It’s not as if there was surety that Sooryavanshi would have won the match. Maybe he could have failed also, but if you had to try youngsters, this series against Ireland was a very good opportunity,” Gavaskar said on Aaj Tak.
When asked if the loss will further push back Sooryavanshi’s debut with the team under pressure, Gavaskar gave a serious take.
“No, you have to play him in the first match. It’s as simple as that. Remove your out-of-form players and play Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. You can even play your regular openers and make Sooryavanshi bat at No. 3. But you have to play him from the first match against England on July 1,” he added.
Gavaskar suggested a tweak in the middle order too, if needed. “Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson have given India great starts in the last year and a half. So to drop them after two matches is not right. My opinion is to drop those who are not scoring in the middle order and play Sooryavanshi at No. 3. Ishan Kishan can come in at No. 4, Shreyas Iyer at No. 5. After that, you can do whatever you want. But on July 1, if you have to shock England, Sooryavanshi has to play. Maybe he will fail, but if he succeeds, England will be shocked. England might be overconfident too after India’s loss to Ireland. To take advantage of the overconfidence, India need to play Sooryavanshi,” Gavaskar said.