Former Indian Test opener Wasim Jaffer believes Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will need to wait for his time amid the T20I series against Afghanistan. Sooryavanshi had warmed the bench in the first two T20Is against the hosts whereas Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma had opened the innings in the first two games.
Meanwhile, Sooryavanshi has been in prime form as he scored 151 runs in three games against Zimbabwe when Sanju Samson was not picked in the squad. Furthermore, the left-hander scored 192 runs in five innings of the Duleep Trophy for East Zone.
India has taken an impregnable lead of 2-0 against Afghanistan after winning the second game by seven wickets and Shreyas Iyer hinted that the team could make some changes to their playing XI.
Jaffer reckons Sooryavanshi will need to wait for his chance as Samson had performed consistently in the T20 World Cup 2026.
Wasim Jaffer said on his YouTube Channel, “You will have to tell Vaibhav to wait for his time. Obviously, he has tasted the joys of international cricket and has also scored runs. But Sanju is a proven performer and is a player who was the Man of the Tournament in the World Cup. So, you will have to wait for your time. Till then, keep yourself prepared and work on your fitness and fielding. Utilize this time in the best possible way. But at this point of time, Sanju and Abhishek are ahead of you. So, you will have to wait for your time. This is the message you have to give to Vaibhav.”
The former Indian batter said no questions would have been raised about Abhishek and Samson’s places in the team if Sooryavanshi had not scored 776 runs in IPL 2026.
He added, “We are talking about Vaibhav Suryavanshi, and the hype is there because of his performance in the IPL. Otherwise, dropping Sanju Samson or thinking about Abhishek Sharma would be foolish because we won the World Cup just before the IPL. Vaibhav put so much of pressure with his performance, that’s why there were these talks. I think it has died down a bit because India lost in Ireland and England. The people who were all talking, ‘Vaibhav..Vaibhav’, have also calmed down, which is a good thing.”
The third and final T20I between Afghanistan and India will be played at Delhi on Thursday.
