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The leader of the orange cap race, Rajasthan Royals' (RR) Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has been backed by many to make his T20I debut. While ‘Little Master’ Sunil Gavaskar wants to see him playing T20I series in England, ‘Master Blaster’ Sachin Tendulkar just wants to see the young player encouraged. The youngest men’s Indian cricketer to make international cricket debut, Tendulkar was asked about prospects of the 15-year-old making his Test debut. The legendary Indian batter took a calculated approach and also pointed out that chief selector Ajit Agarkar is in the audience so he ‘better be careful’ of what he says.
"When Ajit is sitting here, I better be careful what I am saying. I'm not a selector. Not just me, but everyone would want to see him [playing Test cricket] at some stage. I don't know when that is going to happen,” Tendulkar said at Cricinfo Honours in Mumbai on May 30.
"But an exciting talent needs encouragement. And if he's doing well, then we need to encourage and support him and enjoy above all and not put pressure on him constantly, you know, he should play this, or he shouldn't be doing this, or he should be picked in whatever squad. Leave that to the guys [selectors] who are responsible for that," he added.
Sooryavanshi had a super IPL 2026 for Rajasthan Royals (RR). The young southpaw has scored 776 runs from 16 innings at an average of 48.50 and strike rate of 237.30. He has a century and five fifties in the season. Two of these fifties were when he was dismissed in 90s in playoffs.
Tendulkar’s message to Sooryavanshi
Tendulkar was asked what would be his advice for Sooryavanshi to become an all-format player, nost just white-ball cricket. He wants the teenager to find solutions to problems and not curb his natural instinct. He wants the in-form batter to be given freedom to bat the way he does and learn from the challenges posed at him.
"I would tell him to just be himself," he said. "There is always a first time. In Test cricket, along with age, he will learn how to deal with various challenges. [It's about] having a solution-oriented mindset. Problems are always going to be there. Problems will be there till the last day of your career, till the last ball you face. The bowler is asking a question every ball. Now, what solutions do you find?
"He's kind of a player who looks very confident, very, very sure of what he wants to do and I would not want to play around with his natural instincts.
"The way he sees the ball and the way he responds to that, if that signal is interrupted — if you put a lot of hurdles in between that by telling him multiple things — that's where the real challenge would be. I would give him the freedom to go out and bat the way he does. Along with time, he will learn to deal with other challenges of the game."
Sooryavanshi’s next challenge
More than a week after IPL 2026 final, Sooryavanshi will be seen in action when India A go up against Sri Lanka A on June 9 under the captaincy of Tilak Varma in the One-Day tri-series. The tri-nation tournament ends on June 21. It is yet to be seen whether Sooryavanshi gets a place in the T20I series against Ireland and England.
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