Former England cricketer backs Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to make India debut after exceptional IPL season

The IPL (Indian Premier League) 2026 was exceptional for 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Playing his first full season, Sooryavanshi was the star performer for Rajasthan Royals, winning the IPL orange cap, scoring 776 runs to his name in 16 matches. 

His brilliant performances have attracted the attention of many and several fans have been backing Vaibhav to make his India debut as well. Former England cricketer Steve Finn came forward and talked about how Sooryavanshi should be fast tracked to the Indian team. 

"I would love to see him in an Indian shirt in the UK summer. The problem is India is the world champions, and it'll be an incredibly tough call on those opening the batting now. Yet, whoever he replaces, he would make the team better,” Finn said in a video on the ‘for the love of



cricket’ YouTube channel. 

"The question entering this season was if he could do it again and be consistent. The most staggering thing is that he struck at 236 across 700+ runs against the best bowlers in the world. To sustain that for a full season as a 15-year-old is mind-blowing. He was the story of this IPL. And people say the yorker is his lone weakness. But that's so tough to execute with the new ball that if that's your only weakness, you would almost take that,” he added.

Sooryavanshi will be back for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL and after his brilliant performances, the 15-year-old will hope for more in the next season. His performances propelled RR to Qualifier 2 of the tournament, and it could be interesting to see how the side fares in the upcoming edition of the competition.