Former India National Cricket Team skipper Sourav Ganguly has made his stance very clear on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s future in international cricket. While the former BCCI president feels the teenage sensation is good enough to walk straight into India’s T20I side, he believes Test cricket should still wait for the youngster.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has taken Indian cricket by storm with his fearless batting in the IPL over the last two seasons. The Rajasthan Royals batter has smashed bowlers all around the park despite being just 15 years old, and many experts have already started demanding his inclusion across all three formats for Team India.
“In T20s, he should be included right away, but not in Test cricket” - Sourav Ganguly on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
Speaking in an exclusive interview with TOI, Sourav Ganguly backed Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for immediate T20I selection but ruled out the possibility of him playing Test cricket anytime soon.
Ganguly said that the youngster still needs to score heavily in first-class cricket before being considered for the longest format of the game.
“In T20s, he should be included right away, but not in Test cricket. He has to score more runs in first-class cricket to get a place,” Sourav Ganguly said.
The former India skipper, however, could not stop himself from praising the Rajasthan Royals youngster and labelled him as one of India’s biggest future stars.
“But at the moment he's just too talented. To see a 15-year-old boy bat like this against everyone in the world is phenomenal. He is India's future,” Ganguly added.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's stats in IPL and first-class cricket
Sooryavanshi has genuinely looked like a different breed of batter ever since arriving in the IPL. The left-handed batter has shown absolutely no fear against international bowlers and has consistently attacked from ball one.
What has impressed many experts is not just the power-hitting but the confidence with which he takes on senior bowlers. At 15, most players are still trying to settle into domestic cricket, but Sooryavanshi has already become one of the biggest names in the IPL.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s numbers in T20 cricket already look extraordinary for someone of his age. Across two IPL seasons for Rajasthan Royals, the youngster has scored 835 runs in 21 matches at an average of 39.76 and a mind-blowing strike rate of 223.86. He has already smashed two centuries and four half-centuries in the tournament.
In IPL 2026 alone, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi scored 583 runs in 14 matches at an average of 41.64 and a strike rate of 232.27. He smashed one century and three fifties during the season while hitting 50 fours and 53 sixes.
However, his first-class numbers are still quite modest. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has played eight first-class matches so far and scored 207 runs in 12 innings at an average of 17.25. His highest score in red-ball cricket is 93, and he has only one half-century to his name. Those numbers perhaps explain why Sourav Ganguly feels Test cricket should not arrive too early for the teenager.
“We learned our cricket in different era” - Sourav Ganguly
During the same interaction, Sourav Ganguly also reflected on how drastically cricket has evolved over the years. When asked whether he, Rahul Dravid, and Sachin Tendulkar ever imagined T20 cricket becoming this dominant 25 years later, Ganguly admitted that their generation learned cricket very differently.
“No. We learned our cricket in a different era. And why just the three of us? (Ricky) Ponting, (Kumar) Sangakkara, Joe Root, Alastair Cook...you name it,” Ganguly said.
The former India captain added that modern cricket has changed massively, and T20 cricket is now shaping an entirely different generation of batters.
“It’s a different generation. Things keep changing in life, nothing is static. So players change too and that is the way it's going to happen. T20 cricket is here to stay and it will continue to produce talent which will just swing through the line and put the ball in the stands,” he added.
Also Read: "Yes, of course": Rajat Patidar replacing Suryakumar Yadav in Team India gets approval from....
