Vaibhav Sooryavanshi‘s long wait to find a spot in the playing XI finally ended in the second T20I against New Zealand, as he took the No. 3 spot in place of the injured Ishan Kishan. However, it was a role that the teenage batter was not accustomed to. Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma continued to occupy the top two spots, with the management once again asserting that India’s opening combination is firmly set. Coming in to bat in the sixth over, however, Sooryavanshi looked like a “fish out of water” to former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, struggling to impose his usual game before being dismissed for four runs off eight balls.
Ashwin, speaking to the broadcaster after the end of the match in Christchurch, was asked about the ‘hits and misses’ of the game. When asked to share his opinion on Sooryavanshi, Ashwin said the teenage batter was a ‘miss’, as he was given a role that is “not his cup of tea”.
“That is a miss. For a young cricketer like Vaibhav, ‘miss’ is too early I think to say, but because I have only two options of a hit or a miss, he just found himself a little like a fish out of water. He kept going hard, kept going hard for the eight balls,” he said.
Ashwin further noted that Sooryavanshi needed a senior batter to walk up to him and calm him down whilst he was playing an unfamiliar role for the Indian team.
“It did not feel like he was ever timing the ball, and that is when you need a senior partner to walk down to him and say, ‘Calm down, just hang in there, look to play close to your body, watch the ball better.’ Sometimes, as a batter, all you need to be told is to watch the ball closer. You do miss that in all the action that happens around you. So I just felt like he was a fish out of water. Walking in during the sixth over is not his cup of tea,” he explained.
Ashwin also told the Gautam Gambhir-led team management, if all three of Sooryavanshi, Abhishek, and Samson are to play in the same XI, it is the wicket-keeper batter who should slide down to play at the No. 3 role, as he did during the Asian Games for India.
“Look, I think they played this combination before, and Sanju had to skip down to number three. If they are going to go with this combination, I am not too sure Vaibhav has got to bat at number three, but it is what it is. Today it was a miss for Vaibhav,” Ashwin further said.
India’s Middle Order ‘Dangerous’: Ashwin
In the game, it was India’s middle order that stepped up, with the likes of Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Ramandeep Singh producing pivotal knocks to power the team past New Zealand’s total of 180 runs.
“India’s middle order is coming through nicely. That is six, seven, and eight. It looks pretty dangerous. All of them can belt the ball. Ramandeep is a very good hitter of pace bowling. He is showing that he can really club spinners as well. To stand and hit a spinner of Mitchell Santner’s pedigree is no joke, and that tells you the ability of a batter. He looks unflappable when he is batting. Great temperament.
“Tilak Varma is echoing great temperament. I am not too sure about Nitish’s temperament yet, but there is enough power for teams to be concerned about when they come up against India’s lower middle order and middle order. It is a big hit for me,” Ashwin concluded, lauding the development of India’s middle order.
