Vaibhav Sooryavanshi In, But Only As Opener: Gautam Gambhir And Co. Sent Timely Advice

It's the last T20I. Since 2019, India have never lost a home T20I series. However, given the way a resilient West Indies side has made a comeback in the five-match series, the Shreyas Iyer-led side cannot rest easy. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has not featured in any of the matches, and there may be a temptation to try the teenage sensation out in Bengaluru at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Former India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar wondered whether Sooryavanshi should be tried out outside his opening slot. Currently, Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma seem to have the backing of the team management for the openers' slots.

"I am very tempted. Are you going to play Vaibhav Sooryavanshi out of position? I wouldn't want to see that. If Vaibhav Sooryavanshi plays, he should play at his strongest position, which is opening," he said on JioStar.

However, he added that he would not demote Ishan Kishan to accommodate Sooryavanshi.

"If he opens, the one who is playing at No. 3 should play at his strongest position. No matter how much I am tempted, and I want to see Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, that too in Bengaluru, I would make changes in bowling and not at all in batting."

Nayar added that he would like to include Kuldeep Yadav by dropping Naman Dhir.

"I would take a punt here and try the Kuldeep Yadav route. So, I may replace Naman Dhir with Kuldeep Yadav and move Nitish Kumar Reddy one position up, followed by Axar Patel. I think Axar Patel has also played that role really well for Team India when he is sent up as a floater," he said.

"The last four are going to be attacking options, depending on Arshdeep's fitness and how his shoulder is, because he got hit on his shoulder. That's going to be something I am going to be really keen to look at, as to how that pans out," Nayar observed.

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