Indian T20I captain Shreyas Iyer has revealed his message to the teen batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi after not getting an opportunity in the five-match T20I series against the West Indies at home.
Speaking at the post-series press conference, which ended 2-2, Iyer asserted that the existing opening duo of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson have been consistent enough to put Sooryavanshi out of the XI.
“So, I just keep telling him, [Vaibhav Sooryavanshi] you will get your opportunities. If you’re consistent with your process, mindset a bit light and not think too much about not getting an opportunity… you have to wait sometimes. We’ve got two fantastic openers who’ve been consistent throughout,” Iyer said.
In the just-concluded five-match T20I series against the West Indies, Abhishek scored 145 runs at a strike rate of 181.25, while Samson scored 168 runs at a strike rate of 195.35. On the other hand, Sooryavanshi couldn’t get game time.
Further, Iyer spoke about India’s gruelling cricketing schedule. With the home series just concluded, the five-match T20I series against New Zealand will commence on October 22, and the series will be followed by five ODIs and two Tests.
“Just like another day, we’re used to the travel. Not easy to recover and see to it that our routines are intact, but we’ve been doing that well. Adjusting to conditions pretty fast. As long as we’re maintaining this consistently, it’s good for the team,” he added.
Interestingly, Iyer will be a part of the five-match T20I series and also will lead the ODI squad in the fourth and fifth games once Shubman Gill leaves for the red-ball preparations.
India’s T20I Squad vs NZ: Shreyas Iyer [C], Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson [WK], Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan [WK], Tilak Varma [VC], Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav
