Gambhir and Iyer slammed for not giving Vaibhav Sooryavanshi debut in 1st T20I vs Ireland: 'Pathetic'

Fans were not happy that the teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was not given a place in the India Playing XI for the first T20I against Ireland in Belfast on Friday, June 26.

Sooryavanshi's much-anticipated international debut did not materialise as captain Shreyas Iyer announced at the toss that the 15-year-old was unfortunately not in the team.

"Unfortunately, no. He’s a gun player. But obviously, we’ve got tremendous experience in the squad who have done brilliant in the past couple of series for India. So we are backing majority of our cricketers who have been doing absolutely marvellous throughout the season. So I think he’outside the leg-stump get his opportunity when the time comes," Iyer said at toss.

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Batting coach Sitanshu Kotak had hinted before the game that Sooryavanshi might have to wait for his chance.

"I am sure that he will get his dues and his opportunities," Kotak said. "So I don't think that just to give him an opportunity, we should drop someone who has already been scoring runs. That also won't be right.

Sooryavanshi snub reactions

Fans were really disappointed to hear that Sooryavanshi was not playing. On social media, fans slammed the team management for not bringing the teenager straightaway into the Playing XI.

Check out a few these reactions below:

Meanwhile, India won the toss and decided to bowl first in Belfast. In the absence of Sooryavanshi, India continued with the same playing combination with which the team had won the T20 World Cup.

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

India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer(c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna