Former India head coach Rahul Dravid opened up on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s career development. Dravid said that Sooryavanshi’s development should be carefully balanced, and the teenager should be given enough white-ball balance without losing sight of the red-ball game. The youngster, who debuted in the England T20I series last month, is only playing the shortest format yet, but has already started to make his impact for the national team. Sooryavanshi will now be in action during the Duleep Trophy and while the teenage sensation has produced significant white-ball performances, his first-class record is modest.
Sooryavanshi has averaged just 17.25 across 12 innings in the Ranji Trophy Plate League. Amidst this, former India coach Dravid, who also coached the Bihar batter at the Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2025, said that Vaibhav needs to explore both the formats for a positive development. "I think you always have to find that balance," Dravid told Cricinfo during an event in London. He was at the unveiling of the ETPL, where he co-owns Dublin Guardians.
"And I think it's a great thing that Vaibhav is getting the experience of playing some white-ball cricket through the IPL in India, but he's also having the time to go back and play red-ball cricket in the Indian domestic system and grow his red-ball career,” the 53-year-old said. "All of us also want to see Test cricket survive, all of us want to see Test cricket grow, and we need players like him to be able to hopefully play all formats of the game,” he further stated.
You’ve Got to Give Him Some Time: Rahul Dravid Urges to Not Push Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
The former Indian cricketer, fondly called ‘The Wall’, has also urged to not push Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and give him some time. "The good thing is he's going to take some time, he's going to need some experience, he's going to get an opportunity to play a lot of red-ball cricket," Dravid said. "He's not played as much red-ball cricket as probably white-ball cricket,” he added.
"He's only 15 and I think you've got to just give him some time and you've got to be patient with him. He's obviously been such a success straightaway, right, but he's going to go through his ups and downs and I think people are going to have to be patient with him,” the former captain added.
