Ravichandran Ashwin explains why Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was not picked against Ireland

Team India is all set to face England in the five-match T20I and three-match ODI series. The first match of the series will be played on Wednesday, July 1. It will be interesting to see how both teams will play against each other, as it will help them to gain momentum in the rest of the series.

Ashwin shares his view on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi missing the Ireland series

Ahead of this T20I series, Team India faced Ireland in the two-match T20I series. This was the first series the Indian team were playing after winning the T20 World Cup 2026. However, the result of the series shocked the fans as the Men in Blue suffered a massive defeat in the series. Ireland defeated one of the toughest teams at their home ground and made this victory more special and memorable.

After the defeat, the cricket experts and fans targeted captain Shreyas Iyer and head coach Gautam Gambhir for some poor calls. The main reason behind their disappointment was not selecting star player Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in the playing XI against Ireland. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi gets the chance to play for the Indian team, because of his heroics in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 for Rajasthan Royals (RR).

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However, the fans are expecting the selection committee to give a chance to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in the T20I series against England. Ahead of this series, former Indian cricketer and one of the finest all-rounders of all time, Ravichandran Ashwin opened up about why it’s good for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to not play against Ireland in the two-match T20I series.

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Ashwin believes watching from the bench will help Sooryavanshi improve

“Let’s say Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was given his debut against Ireland, but he played and failed in these two matches, would this (narrative) be reversed? In all honesty, everything would be reversed. Everyone would say, ‘Vaibhav Sooryavanshi can hit in the IPL, but he can’t play in seaming, sporting conditions’,” Ashwin said.

“In such conditions – be it Vaibhav, Abhishek or Sanju – if you play in the same T20 template, there will be chances of getting out. That is why I said that it is not a bad experience to sit outside, within the team environment. You’re learning from somebody else’s experience,” Ashwin added.

“You can ask anyone. The most free and most valuable lessons can be learned when you sit in close quarters and watch the mistakes of high-performing individuals. You won’t get a better platform than that,” he concluded.

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