06 October,2026 09:47 AM IST | Lucknow | PTI
Kuldeep Yadav. Pic/PTI
[popcorn number="20" desc="No. of times India have beaten West Indies across 31 T20Is (10 losses, one no result)" class="Default"]
India's bowling coach Morne Morkel on Monday said teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi needs to spend more time with the team even if he is not playing which will only be "great" for the game. Young Sooryavanshi was part of the Asian Games gold medal winning Indian team and played all the matches, but failed to fire.
And in all likelihood, India will go with Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson as openers in the first T20 International against West Indies here on Tuesday. "We all know the talent of Vaibhav. The more time he spends in this environment with the quality players, the more time he trains at this standard, will only be great for his cricket," Morkel said at the pre-match press conference.
"And if he's not getting that game time, he's still on a bus, in the dugout, in the hotel with guys with a lot of experience. With him sharing that sort of dressing room and talking to guys, or just actually watching how the guys go through their processes and how they set up innings, will be key for him."
"If you put guys in the right environment and they can ask the right questions and they can observe. So I always challenge them, and for any young player, if he gets game time or if that game time is a little limited, it's still our job to make sure that these guys learn, they grow, and they ask questions." Morkel, however, refrained from hinting at the possible playing eleven for Tuesday's game.
"I mean that's the combination (Abhishek and Sooryavanshi at the top) they felt for them at the Asian Games. We'll work out tonight what is the best combination for us going into this series. Will they adapt, will they float, will they make any changes, I quite honestly can't give that answer now," he said.
"...the red flag or the problem might be, our guys are travelling back after the Asian Games. Some of the guys only arrived a couple of days ago, so jet lag, getting over the journey. Once we are up and running and we get the series going, we are all really looking forward to it." Morkel said the main goal for India is to win games and create a strong bench strength to fall back upon.
"This group of players have played some exceptional cricket over the last couple of years. The guys who got opportunities came in and, they've done a brilliant job. It will be great for Indian cricket if we keep on growing that pool, keep on giving guys that experience of the taste of what it is to play in an Indian shirt."
Morkel also praised Kuldeep Yadav and said the spinner is back to his form. "Kuldeep spoke about it in the past after the ODI series that he feels he's bowling well again. And that is great news for us. As a bowler sometimes we can struggle with our rhythm, it takes a little bit longer at times to find that, but for us, he's a massive match-winner, he's confident, he's bowling well," he said.
The former South African pacer is also excited to see pace duo of Mayank Yadav and Prince Yadav in the series. "A nice opportunity for guys who were out of the loop for a while to come back. Mayank Yadav, he's back from injury, so look forward to seeing how he goes when he gets an opportunity.
"It is sort of looking at the bigger picture, but also you want to win games for India. You want to give the guys the opportunity who has done well so far to continue that, and we look forward to the series and we'll take it as it comes," Morkel said.
"If you look at Mayank, immediately that comes to mind is his pace, his X-factor. I think for me, Prince, where he was a net bowler a couple of years ago, he's now playing for India. That resilience, the hard work that he's put into his game to reach international stage is admiring. So for me, that shows that these guys are hardworking players."
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