Former Australian skipper Michael Clarke has backed Vaibhav Suryavanshi to play Test cricket for India in the future. Clarke reckons the left-hander can bat in the middle order for the national team. The former right-hander feels Suryavanshi has time on his sleeves to improve his technique in the red-ball format.
The 15-year-old youngster has impressed one and all in the ongoing IPL 2026, scoring 404 runs in 10 matches at an average of 40.40 and a blistering strike rate of 237.64.
The southpaw has been batting with an aggressive approach from the get-go and has delivered the goods for the inaugural champions.
Michael Clarke said on Beyond23 Cricket Podcast, “One day cricket will be an easy transition for him. He’ll have a bit more time, but he won’t have to change much. He has the smarts and the time to improve technically to play Test cricket. And against the moving ball in Test cricket, there is no reason he can’t bat in the middle order at No.5 or 6. He has the mental side to play all formats.”
“But expectations are going to be created now because he’s doing so well. And cricket is hard, and you will go through form slumps as well. People shouldn’t be too harsh looking at him now and say he can’t play Test cricket. I think he can because he is not walking out and slogging. He may start in this format, but expand and play all formats.”
Clarke backed Suryavanshi to play all three formats for India and said the youngster deserves all the hype he is getting.
“His hype is earned. I don’t think anybody is saying he can walk into Test cricket and be one of the greats tomorrow. The way he plays is very much suited to T20s. But if he keeps scoring runs, no matter the format, he’ll play all three formats for India. Then his challenge will be to adapt to three formats and different conditions in the world,” said Clarke (via the aforementioned source).
Clarke concluded, “I have never seen a 15-year-old doing this. It reminds me of Sachin Tendulkar scoring in Australia at 16, and that hype was earned. Sachin was the best I’ve ever seen in Test cricket. We are not talking that about Vaibhav Suryavanshi. But in T20 cricket in India, this guy is unbelievable. He can hit you for a six on the first ball, no matter the bowler. In the powerplay, there aren’t many better than him right now.”
Suryavanshi will be next in action against GT on Saturday.
