Vaibhav Sooryavanshi on the bench: Why India's bold T20I vision feels incomplete

Gautam Gambhir with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi during practice session; Sanju Samson during the first T20I vs Afghanistan. (PTI/ANI Photos)NEW DELHI: India T20I skipper Shreyas Iyer called having to pick between Sanju Samson, Vaibhav Sooryanshi and Abhishek Sharma as a "luxury to have for any side." More often than not, the challenge is to pick between Samson and Sooryavanshi. One brings experience, and the other brings a no-holds-barred approach.That was the case as the T20I series between India and Afghanistan got underway on Sunday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. No clear signs of one or the other emerged as the teams went through the motions. Abhishek did some shadow batting. Sooryavanshi lined up to take some aerial catches. India coach Gautam Gambhir pinged Samson's wicketkeeping gloves.As the team went into a huddle and emerged, both Samson and Sooryavanshi found their way onto the dugout. Both kept their poker faces well. Ishan Kishan, one of the wicketkeeping options in the squad, spoke for a considerable period with batting coach Sitanshu Kotak.The mystery box was opened at the toss when Shreyas Iyer announced that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Washington Sundar and two more (Ravi Bishnoi and Yash Thakur) were not in the playing XI. His reasoning to Sanjay Manjrekar was near incoherent."That is more difficult, I feel, but I would say if Vaibhav (Sooryavanshi) is not playing, then Washington (Sundar) is not playing and there are two more which you'll get to know," he said on managing team combinations and selecting players for the match.Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (ANI Photo)When it came to it, Sanju Samson scored just 10 runs from 8 balls with two boundaries to show for it. His brief stay in the middle was halted by Azmatullah Omarzai, giving catching practice to Darwish Rasooli at deep square leg in the process. On a surface that needed patience before getting going, as Abhishek Sharma demonstrated with a 32-ball 82, the 31-year-old had not made the most of the opportunity.The question of batting order that Iyer didn't answer with conviction at the toss was probed again with Abhishek Sharma and Varun Chakaravarthy after India's 7-wicket win with 38 balls to spare."I still remember two years back, we decided we want to play a certain way and dominate all teams. It worked for a year. But one or two (bad) series won't define our batting. As openers, you want to give a good start as an opener," said Sharma, whose 82-run knock earned him the Player of the Match.Varun, meanwhile, praised India's top order for how lethal they are against spinners."Against our team, batting line-up, you can't bowl spin. So, if you bowl spin against our batting line-up, they are just going to smack (you) left, right and centre. We are so used to playing spinners. We have one of the best batting line-ups and our top-8 can take on any spinner in the world. I have personally bowled against them, played against them. I know how hard it is. So, yeah, I feel for the spinners," said the spinner who had an economical return from injury.The question, however, persists over Sooryavanshi's place in the team and the long-term approach in the format. Samson's presence adds a wicketkeeping option and a left-right pairing at the top of the order. But, with all due respect to Samson's abilities, it steals what can be a game-changing and game-deciding pairing of Abhishek-Sooryavanshi.Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (PTI Photo)Samson posted single-digit scores against Ireland and in the first T20I against England before allowing Sooryavanshi to come in and make his India debut. Sooryavanshi couldn't do much either, with 42 runs from three matches.But as Samson was rested for the tour to Zimbabwe and Sooryavanshi became the de facto choice, the 15-year-old produced a series-topping 151 runs from three matches at a strike rate of 196.10.With India set to play two T20Is against Afghanistan, a one-off T20I against Japan, the Asian Games, five T20Is against West Indies, five T20Is against New Zealand and three T20Is against Sri Lanka in 2026, the can of worms involving Sooryavanshi has been opened with his absence.The sole reason Sooryavanshi was included in squads for Ireland and England, and fast-tracked into the Indian team at all of 15, was to give wings to this sensational talent. Not playing him, in favour of Samson's experience, does grave disservice to him, his talent and Indian cricket at large.