NEW DELHI: The debate over Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s India debut refuses to die down. The 15-year-old batting sensation has been part of India’s T20I squads for the tours of Ireland and England, but is still waiting for his first international cap.While fans continue to demand his inclusion, the former India captain Kapil Dev you have shared an interesting perspective. While he cautioned against creating too much hype around the youngster, he also said that India should not expect too much if they believe he is ready.I draw a comparison with Sachin TendulkarThe debutant Kapil said: “There are a couple of things – and we can mention Sachin because he was the same age when he was playing. We used to wonder if we were playing a little too soon. But if you see the story, you will realize (and think), ‘kabhi kabhi late na ho jaye’ (what if you end up being late?).”
“Count his ability, not his age”
Kapil believes that Sooryavanshi should be selected on merit, not on the basis of his age.“He feels that if he is fast, his age should not be counted (taken into consideration) but his ability should be. If he feels that he can be played on his ability, he should be played,” Kapil said in Sports Tak.“He is as good as Sachin and Virat in terms of talent”Kapil also heaped praise on the youngster’s natural ability.He said Sooryavanshi possesses the kind of talent seen in legends like Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, though he is yet to prove himself outside the T20 format.“If you talk about the talent, yes, he is as good as Sachin (Tendulkar) or Virat Kohli and the talent can be seen in him for T20, (but) for the rest (of the formats), he has to prove (himself),” Kapil said. On the day he plays Test cricket, can he play five maiden overs? He is fabulous in T20s, to make such an impact at such a young age, you will not find even one percent of such people in the world.
“Don’t create so much hype”
While supporting the young talent, Kapil also advised everyone to give them time to grow.“I haven’t seen much of him, I’ve only seen a little bit. He’s got huge talent, no doubt about it,” Kapil said.“But (at the same time), I think we talked too much about him. At the moment, we need to give him some time. They do not create so much (hype) around him, someone who is of a young age does not even have such an understanding … “, he said.
Hard times will come
Kapil also reminded everyone that every great batsman goes through difficult phases in his career.According to him, the real test for Sooryavanshi will be how it deals with these challenges.“It is not that their bad patch will not come, difficult times will come, how do you get out of it? There are only a few cricketers who have never had a bad patch, be it Sachin Tendulkar or. Sunil Gavaskar or Vivian Richards,” I said.“All players have been through tough times… and a cricketer of his calibre, (it remains to be seen) how he comes out of it? He looks so talented and the new generation kids are so confident,” he added.Sooryavanshi earned his place in the Indian team after a sensational IPL season and traveled with the team to both Ireland and England.