Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Backed For Test Debut At 15 Amid IPL 2026 Exploits

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Backed For Test Debut [Source: AFP]

Rajasthan Royals’ teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has owned the stage of the IPL 2026 season at the age of just 15. Owing to his exploits, the kid is now being encouraged to debut in Test cricket.

After his debut in 2025, Sooryavanshi has scored 692 runs in 18 IPL games at a 224.67 strike rate, including 2 hundreds and 3 fifties. Not only that, but he is also scoring tons of runs in age-group cricket across formats.

R Ashwin wants Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to play Test cricket

Normally, aggressive IPL batters are discussed mainly for T20 cricket. But former cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin believes Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s talent level is so high that he could eventually succeed in all three formats, including Tests.

Ashwin wants Vaibhav to play red-ball cricket as soon as he has the ability to take any bowler down comfortably with confidence, irrespective of their stature.

“He is taking every bowler down. I wouldn’t mind watching him in a Test match, and I wouldn’t mind watching him in all three formats of the game. Get him onto cricket grounds, get people coming along, because he is going to entertain you,” Ashwin said on the JioHotstar show.

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That is a huge compliment for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi because it's coming from Ashwin, one of India’s most successful spinners in Tests. In 106 games, he picked 537 wickets at a 24.00 average.

Ashwin urges RR batters to take responsibility

That being said, coming back to the IPL 2026 season, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi appears to be overburdened with responsibility, as he is the leading run-scorer of the Rajasthan Royals at 440 runs in 10 games.

Ravichandran Ashwin is not impressed with this trend. He urged senior players like Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel and Donovan Ferreira to shoulder greater responsibility while allowing Sooryavanshi to continue playing with freedom, as he is just 15 and shouldn’t be burdened to carry the team alone.

“There is no point asking him to do things he shouldn’t be doing at this stage of his career. He has experienced players like Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag and Donovan Ferreira to follow. He shouldn’t be the one carrying that burden. If he can give them flying starts, then with the batting line-up they have, they should be winning games like those comfortably,” he added.

Rajasthan Royals drop another game vs GT

Meanwhile, the day that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi wasn’t able to score big in a high-scoring chase, the Rajasthan Royals collapsed under pressure. Chasing 230 runs against GT at Jaipur, the 15-year-old got dismissed on 36 off 16 balls by Mohammed Siraj.

After his dismissal, RR had a brutal collapse. Apart from Dhruv Jurel and Ravindra Jadeja, no batter was able to cross the 20-run mark, and as a result, the Royals got bundled on just 152 runs in 16.3 overs, leading to a massive 77-run defeat.

With that, Rajasthan Royals slipped to fifth place on the points table with 12 points. They still need to win at least 2 games from their remaining three to stand a chance at playoff qualification.

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