Vaibhav Sooryavanshi may be on the verge of becoming India’s youngest international cricketer, but batting coach Sitanshu Kotak made it clear that the opportunity for the teenager should not come at the cost of an already playing player.India begin their two-match T20I series against Ireland on Friday and if Sooryavanshi is selected in the playing XI, the 15-year-old will become the youngest player to represent India. The team management, led by captain Shreyas Iyer and head coach Gautam Gambhir, faces a selection call ahead of the opener. One option could be to bring Sooryavanshi into the side instead of Abhishek Sharma and open alongside Sanju Samson or vice versa.Speaking ahead of the game, Kotak praised the teenager’s ability, but said the team selection must also be fair to players who have already scored.“Vaibhav is very talented, no doubt. And the way he batted in the IPL and all the other games, needless to say, he has a lot of natural ability. Because in the IPL, he faced Jofro, a lot of fast bowlers, a lot of experienced bowlers. And he doesn’t seem to be bothered by anything. So, he is obviously an outstanding talent,” Kotak was quoted as saying by the news agency. PTI.“Tonight, the captain and the head coach will decide the squad. And if he plays well, if he doesn’t for me, that’s great because he’s part of the Indian team. And I’m sure he’ll get his due and his opportunities. So I don’t think that just to give him a chance, we should drop someone who’s already scored.“That’s also not going to be right. I think there’s a very fine line between trying to give someone a chance and being unfair to another player,” Kotak said.Kotak said the depth of talent in Indian cricket has made selection increasingly difficult and admitted that even the selectors have a tough job.“If you ask me, there is so much talent in India that even the selectors have a headache. To tell you the truth, I don’t have that much headache because I am not the head coach and captain. But sometimes it’s hard.”“But we also have to remember one thing that those who are already playing should never be ignored, as I believe. Those who are already scoring are winning games for the team. BCCIThe structure is such that players will keep coming in,” Kotak said when asked how difficult it is to leave out players from the World Cup-winning team.
