He’s the Orange Cap winner, a T20I debutant at 15 and an Asian Games gold medallist. Now Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has found something Sachin Tendulkar thinks is arriving a little too fast: a leadership badge.
Speaking during a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” session on Tuesday, Tendulkar was asked what he made of the 15-year-old being handed captaincy responsibilities. His answer was blunt. He said, “I feel it’s too early for him to become a vice-captain in the Duleep Trophy. We have to let him play more matches with the red ball and take one step at a time!”
The batting great’s advice was to let young Vaibhav build more red-ball experience before taking on leadership roles. That fits his earlier comments, when he said Vaibhav has the ingredients to succeed in Test cricket but should be allowed to develop naturally without extra pressure.
The timing makes the remark more interesting. When regular captain Ishan Kishan injured his wrist during East Zone’s semi-final against Central Zone, Vaibhav stood in for part of the innings. That made him the youngest player ever to captain a side in the Duleep Trophy.
Sachin Tendulkar’s comments are far from a dismissal of the teenager’s talent. He has repeatedly praised Vaibhav’s fearlessness and the way opposition teams now plan around him before he even reaches the crease. This time his message is about pacing. The talent is real, and he wants the leadership responsibility to wait until the red-ball foundation is stronger.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has not responded publicly, and East Zone and the BCCI have not commented on Sachin Tendulkar’s remarks. With an IPL season that produced 776 runs and a rapidly growing India career behind him, the debate over how fast is too fast for India’s youngest star looks set to continue.
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