A clear Gautam Gambhir stamp — Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will have to wait and rightly so

 

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Image :X

Boria Majumdar, London

There was serious speculation if Vaibhav Sooryavanshi would be given a senior international debut against Ireland in Belfast on Friday. He wasn’t and will now wait for the second game on Sunday. Let me state this clearly — it was a very logical and fair call. You need to earn your stripes for the national team and the two incumbent openers have done so. Vaibhav will indeed, but he will need to wait a few days more.

Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson were India’s chosen openers at the T20 World Cup earlier this year. India won the tournament in style and Abhishek signed off with an electric half-century in the final. Sanju, on the other hand, returned with the Player of the Tournament award. How do you drop either of them was always going to be the question? While there was much hype over Vaibhav and justifiably so, with all that he has done, it is equally true that dropping either of the two openers would have been unfair.

Vaibhav’s call-up has been based on his IPL performances and the clamour that either Sanju or Abhishek should miss out is also based on their IPL efforts. The IPL isn’t the index for picking a playing XI for India and Gautam Gambhir, the head coach, and Shreyas Iyer, the newly appointed T20I captain, acted with prudence and logic in going with the World Cup-winning opening duo.

I know many are disappointed. And it is logical that they will be. For the broadcaster, too, a debut for Vaibhav would have been great. They get to build the series and generate hype around it. But all that matters to the team are the players who make it. No one is special and that’s the message which has been conveyed.

Like everyone else, I am also waiting for Vaibhav to make his debut and showcase his talent. But I also understand why Gautam and Shreyas did what they did. In fact, I had done a column yesterday saying exactly this — it would be harsh to deny either Abhishek or Sanju.

If I know him well, this call has Gautam Gambhir’s stamp on it. A totally pragmatic call far removed from emotion. He doesn’t bother with the outside noise and that’s how it should be. Gautam and Shreyas will have to own their decisions, and with Gautam that’s always the case.

Coming to Vaibhav, he knows his turn will come soon enough. He will also know that this is the most cherished thing in Indian cricket — the national team cap. It doesn’t come easy and to be the youngest-ever recipient of it is hugely special. Only he needs a little more patience and rightly so.

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