Saturday, 4 July 2026

INDIA BAT FIRST AND HAND SOORYAVANSHI HIS DEBUT IN MANCHESTER

England brought back Jora Archer to their eleven and handed Josh Tongue his debut in white-ball internationals


Vaibhav Sooryavanshi got his India cap at 15 years and 99 days  •  Getty Images


India won the toss and opted to bat in the second T20I at Old Trafford. They made one change to their XI, bringing in 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for a hotly anticipated debut - in the process overwriting Sachin Tendulkar's record as the youngest man to represent India.

India's management had dead-batted the prospect of Sooryavanshi making the step up after a stellar IPL campaign, but having left him on the sidelines for two T20Is in Belfast, as well as the first game of the series against England, they have given into temptation. He received his cap from Tilak Varma, and replaces Sanju Samson - India's Player of the Tournament at the T20 World Cup earlier this year - after a run of 5, 0 and 1.

"He completely deserves [it], the way he has performed that last couple of months," India's captain, Shreyas Iyer, said of Sooryavanshi at the toss. "He doesn't take pressure, you see him in the dressing room and he has that unflinching nature."

Sooryavanshi will get first go on an Old Trafford surface that last year yielded a total of 304 for 2 when England took on South Africa. Conditions were a little overcast and blustery, with Iyer losing his cap as the coin went up.

England had named their team in advance, with two changes from the washed-out first T20I at Chester-le-Street: Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue - the latter making his debut - in for Saqib Mahmood and Luke Wood. "We're happy with selections, Jof coming back in is a very strong player," Harry Brook said. "Tonguey has been knocking the door down and I think it's the right time for him

On the prospect of facing down India's teenage phenom, Brook said: "We've been thinking about tactical decisions, it's just about executing them."

England 1 Phil Salt, 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Harry Brook (capt), 4 Jacob Bethell, 5 Tom Banton, 6 Sam Curran, 7 Will Jacks, 8 Liam Dawson, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Jofra Archer, 11 Josh Tongue

India 1 Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Harshit Rana, 9 Arshdeep Singh, 10 Ravi Bishnoi, 11 Varun Chakravarth

- Alan Gardner

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