There was a lot of anticipation. More than a fortnight after the 15-year-old was selected in India’s T20 squad, hopes were rising that June 26 would be the day Vaibhav Suryavanshi would create history. It was widely speculated that he would become the youngest cricketer to receive an India cap in Belfast, breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s 37-year-old record. live update | Achievement:

However, the Indian team delayed the debut of Vaibhav Suryavanshi. Newly appointed captain Shreyas Iyer confirmed that Kishore had not found a place in the playing eleven for the opening T20I of the series in Belfast.

When Shreyas was asked about the decision, he said that the team management wanted to support the senior players who were part of India’s T20 World Cup-winning team. Incidentally, this is India’s first T20I after winning the World Cup in March.

“Unfortunately not. He is a gun player. But, we have experience in the team. And the seniors have done brilliantly in the last few series for India. So, we are backing most of them who have performed absolutely amazing. So, I think they will get a chance when the time comes. But, for now, we are going with three genuine seamers, one all-rounder and two spinners,” Iyer said.

Supporting the big call, former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar said he was glad India resisted the temptation to include the 15-year-old in the XI, stressing that it would have been unfair to leave out either Sanju Samson or Abhishek Sharma.

“You can’t remove Abhishek Sharma after scoring 50 off 20 balls in the World Cup final. Samson went crazy during the World Cup. His last three scores were 93 not out, 89 and 89. So you can’t remove those guys just because we are excited about the young boys,” he told Sony Liv.

“India are doing the right thing and it is the right message. They have dropped the World Cup-winning key captain Suryakumar Yadav. So India are now focussing on cricketing merit, as it should always be. I am glad they have not got too carried away with the excitement of this young kid. He can wait for his turn, and he has time.”

Playing XI of Ireland vs India in 1st T20I

Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Verma, Shivam Dubey, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna.

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