BELFAST, Northern Ireland — One of cricket’s most anticipated teenage prospects will have to wait a little longer for his senior international breakthrough. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the 15-year-old Indian batting sensation who finished as the highest run-getter in the 2025 Indian Premier League, was once again left out of India’s playing XI for the second and decisive T20I against Ireland in Belfast.
This omission marks the second consecutive match the young prodigy has missed out on, after he did not feature in the series opener on Friday. That first match ended in a historic 34-run victory for Ireland, the first time the nation has beaten India in any format of international cricket.
If given his cap in the upcoming five-match T20 series against England, which kicks off next Wednesday, Sooryavanshi — who will be 15 years and 93 days old on the date of the first match — will break the long-standing record for the youngest male player to debut in top-tier men’s T20 internationals. The current record belongs to Ireland’s own Joshua Little, who was 16 years and 309 days old when he made his first T20I appearance.
A debut for Sooryavanshi would also etch his name into Indian cricket history as the youngest player to ever represent the men’s senior national team. The legendary Sachin Tendulkar, widely regarded as one of the greatest batters of all time, holds the current record for India, having made his Test debut at 16 years and 205 days back in 1989, with his ODI debut following 33 days later.
Across all formats of men’s international cricket, the record for the youngest debutant still belongs to Pakistan’s Hasan Raza, who stepped out for his Test debut in 1996 at just 14 years and 227 days old, a mark that has stood unchallenged for nearly 30 years.
In the second T20I at Belfast’s Stormont ground on Sunday, India captain Shreyas Iyer won the pre-match coin toss and elected to bowl first against the hosts. India handed out senior debuts to two other young prospects: all-rounder Suryansh Shedge and 24-year-old fast bowler Prince Yadav.
National selectors opted to retain the established top-order batting trio of Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan, choosing experience over the chance to introduce the teenage prodigy to the international stage on this tour.
Full Playing XI:
Ireland: Tim Tector, Ross Adair, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker (captain), Ben Calitz, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Matthew Humphreys, Matt Hollard, Liam McCarthy, Jai Moondra
India: Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma, Suryansh Shedge, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Prince Yadav