'Sooryavanshi, almost forced us to pick him': Team India's chief selector Agarkar

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Pic/AFP

It was always going to be extremely hard to ignore the Bihar boy and Rajasthan Royals's teenaged batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's performances when it came to picking India's T20I squad for the upcoming tours of Ireland and England, besides the Asian Games, and chief national selector Ajit Agarkar had no hesitation in admitting this while announcing the team on Saturday.

"I think his [Sooryavanshi's] performances have almost forced us to pick him because of how well he has played. I know how young he is and how early [he is] in his career, but, as I said, two IPL [seasons] in a row, and of course what he was doing at the U-19 level, and that's probably a step down towards the IPL, but we can all see what kind of talent he has," Agarkar told Sunday mid-day at the post-selection press conference.

Sooryavanshi, who emerged as the top-scorer in IPL-19 (776 runs), is just 15 years and 71 days old and is also set to become the youngest player to represent India. The attacking batter will surpass batting legend Sachin Tendulkar (16 years and 205 days), who made his India debut against Pakistan in the Karachi Test in 1989. India will travel to Ireland for two T20Is later this month, followed by a five-match T20I series against England before participating in the Asian Games in Japan (September 19 to October 4).

Agarkar oozed confidence in Sooryavanshi, saying he was more than capable of carrying his IPL form into the national team. "There will obviously be tougher challenges when you play for your country, but Vaibhav has shown great promise. So, we're all very hopeful like everyone [else] is. I think he has picked himself through his performances," added Agarkar.