Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's India senior debut delayed yet again as Men in Blue opt to field in 2nd T20 against Ireland

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's highly-anticipated India senior debut was delayed once again as he remained on the bench for the second T20I against Ireland in Belfast on Sunday. The Men in Blue instead handed debuts to pacer Prince Yadav and batting all-rounder Suryansh Shedge, with captain Shreyas Iyer winning the toss and opting to field in the must-win clash at the Civil Service Cricket Club.

LIVE | India vs Ireland, 2nd T20I in Belfast on Sunday, 28 June

Sooryavanshi had earned a maiden senior call-up after a record-breaking Indian Premier League season with Rajasthan Royals, winning the Orange Cap after amassing 776 runs at a strike rate of 237.

Vaibhav was widely expected to be fast-tracked into the Indian batting lineup in order to capitalise on his red-hot form, with the 15-year-old having struck the fastest half-century in the history of List A cricket during India A's recent tour of Sri Lanka.

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The Royals star, however, was benched for India's opening game of their white-ball tour of the United Kingdom on Friday. And on Sunday, the teenager remained a spectator as the Men in Blue handed out maiden caps to Prince – who had made his ODI debut against Afghanistan on home soil recently – and Shedge.

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"We’re going to bowl first considering the weather condition. It can pour any time, so we want to maximize the advantage of it," Iyer, who had recently succeeded Suryakumar Yadav as India T20I captain, said during toss on Sunday.

Iyer heaps praise on Shedge, Prince after handing them debuts

Iyer further described Shedge, who plays under his leadership at Punjab Kings, as a "sensational youngster" and Lucknow Super Giants pacer Prince as someone "smart enough to adapt".

"He’s a powerful, destructive batter. Yes, he’s a sensational youngster who has been scoring runs in the domestic cricket and also in the IPL. He’s got tremendous amount of experience in the youth cricket. So definitely he’s performed in the A tours. So he’s getting, he’s reaping the benefits," Iyer said about Shedge.

"Definitely it’s his first game, so I don’t want to put him under that much pressure. It’s important that he comes out here and experiences and gain the experience out of what is there to offer. And he must have seen the match, how we played in the previous game. So definitely he’s smart enough to adapt to it," he added, describing Prince.

India vs Ireland, 2nd T20I Playing XIs

India: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(wk), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer(c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav

Ireland: Tim Tector, Ross Adair, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker(wk/c), Benjamin Calitz, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Liam McCarthy, Matthew Humphreys, Jai Moondra, Matthew Hollard