Vaibhav Sooryavanshi In 2nd India vs West Indies T20I 'Won't Happen', Why Wonderkid Still Can't Take Sanju Samson's Place

If getting into the Indian cricket team is difficult, keeping your place in it is twice as challenging. Just ask Sanju Samson. After a superb T20 World Cup campaign in which he slammed three straight half-centuries, the veteran opener suffered a lean patch against Ireland and England. Two 50-plus scores against Afghanistan brightened things up for him, but Samson again seems to have hit a rough patch. His scores after the Afghanistan series read 9, 7, 2 and 11, with the last one coming in the first T20I against the West Indies.

After the latest score, the clamour for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's inclusion has increased once again. Ever since Sooryavanshi emerged as the top scorer in IPL 2026, experts and former cricketers around the world have, in large numbers, backed his inclusion in the Indian team.

Sooryavanshi was picked for the Ireland and England tours as well. He did not make an immediate impact in England but was named Player of the Series on the subsequent tour of Zimbabwe.

It is here that the problem of plenty in India's T20I setup becomes more pronounced. On one hand, there is a teenage sensation hailed as a generational talent. On the other, there is Samson, a talented and proven performer, but one who has often struggled for consistency.

The scales, however, are tilted in Samson's favour for now, feels former India opener Aakash Chopra, at least ahead of the second India vs West Indies T20I.

"The growing concern that I get to hear, now that I have come here (Ranchi), which is close to Bihar, is whether Vaibhav Sooryavanshi can play or not. It will not happen. You have to accept that right now he will not get to play. And after every match, if we have to say the same thing about Sanju Samson, then it is quite shameful. Then how will you run cricket?" Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

"I seriously think about Nitish Kumar Reddy for sure. However, I can't do that either after the first match. I wanted him to play right from the start, because how else will you prepare him? However, that's my thinking and might be your thinking as well, but the Indian team is not thinking like that," he added.

Chopra's opinion has merit. Even Ravichandran Ashwin has, in the past, said that Sooryavanshi should be given the opportunity to evolve while being part of the squad.

"I was saying that he will get so much to learn. He has such a huge learning curve to go through that if he observes everything while sitting outside, he'll become even better. Don't talk about dropping or picking him. Let him be, let him evolve," he had said.

On top of that, Sooryavanshi is only 15, while Samson is 31. Ten years from now, Sooryavanshi will still be just 25 and have plenty of cricket left in him. The same cannot be said about Samson.

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