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Vaibhav Sooryavanshi dropped from India's Playing XI [Source: X]
The Player of the Series from India’s last T20I assignment, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, has faced a shocking snub from the playing XI as the Shreyas Iyer-led outfit takes on Afghanistan in a T20I series.
This is India’s first T20I in about 45 days, and the team is all set to begin its preparations for the upcoming Asian Games, starting at the end of this month. Interestingly, Sooryavanshi is also part of the Asian Games team, but has to wait for his opportunity on home soil.
Fans left shocked as Sooryavanshi gets benched vs Afghanistan
While Sooryavanshi made his presence felt in India’s series win in Zimbabwe, Sanju Samson, the hero of India’s T20 World Cup-winning campaign has returned to the playing XI, leaving fans shocked.
Previously, when Samson was not named in the team for the Zimbabwe T20Is, a large section of fans felt it was Sooryavanshi’s time to lock his place in the XI. But, as it turns out, Samson was indeed just rested for the tour and remains a first-choice starter.
As India elected to bowl first at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, he announced a few names who were playing and who missed out.
Also Read: List Of Titles Won By Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
“We had lots of positives from the Zimbabwe series and that's the attitude we'll carry. It's a luxury to have him [Bumrah] in the squad — he carries a lot of great attitude when it comes to winning matches. Vaibhav is not playing, nor are Washington and two more,” he told Sanjay Manjrekar.
Many found the decision beyond understanding, considering the series is against Afghanistan, while some found a way to joke about it.
Here’s how they reacted:
"Chahe Koi bhi drop Ho Vaibhav har Hal mein khelna chahie simple," wrote @premy4864.
"I recharged my fancode account just to watch Vaibhav Sooryavanshi bat and look what, BCCI has once again removed him to take a slogger in the team #SanjuSamson. Bhai Sanju kis match mein khelega wo usko bhi nhi pata. 10 match mein single digit ke baad ek match mein run banayega," @xchairman_saabx vented his frustration.
"Tum log Vaibhav confidance gira ke hi dam loge aaj ke date date me t20 me Vaibhav suryavanshi jaisa koi nahi hai," said @RajnishBenvasi.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi had impressed in Zimbabwe
The 15-year-old batting sensation, who broke all the possible records in the IPL 2026 season, while also winning the Orange Cap, made his international debut in England, where he got to play three matches. Unfortunately, he had only managed 14(10), 13(5) and 15(10) in the series loss in England.
However, when he had an opportunity to play all three matches in Zimbabwe, he ripped through their bowling and scored two fifties in the series, including an 81(49) in the last match.
In that series, he scored 50(19), 20(9) and 81(49) to end as the leading run-getter and clinched the Player of the Series award.
India stick to World Cup winning openers
The Indian openers, Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson have been around the setup for over a couple of years and the team has reaped rewards of backing the duo to give them swashbuckling starts.
India's T20 World Cup completely changed since the time Sanju Samson returned to the playing XI in the knockout stages of the tournament. Hence, despite scoring only 33 runs in last 4 innings, Samson is being backed by the captain and the management to start ahead of Vaibhav.
Regarding Abhishek Sharma, he was India's best T20I batter in the last T20 World Cup cycle and also dominated the ICC rankings for a long time, sitting at the top. So backing him makes sense from the management's perspective as well.
He has scored 191 runs in 10 innings after the World Cup and this is the time when an out-of-form batter can get some runs and regain his confidence.
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