Indian cricket legend urges Sooryavanshi to stay focused, tells experts and fans to avoid 'expecting too much'

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has been fast-tracked into the Indian team at the age of 15 after a record-breaking run with the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League recently, the explosive opener included in India's T20I squad for the upcoming tour of the United Kingdom as well as the Asian Games in Japan later this year.

Sooryavanshi was the standout performer in the 19th season of the world's biggest T20 league, finishing as the leading run-scorer with 776 runs at a mind-boggling strike rate of 237.30 and dominating the awards ceremony after the final in Ahmedabad on 31 May.

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The teenager had thus made it impossible for the Indian team management and selection committee to ignore him any further, and he now finds himself on the verge of becoming India's youngest debutant ever, the record that has belonged to Sachin Tendulkar since 1989.

'Expecting too much at this stage would be wrong'

Legendary all-rounder and former India all-rounder Kapil Dev, however, has urged the young opener from Bihar to stay focused amid his red-hot run as he prepares to face the rigours of playing at the highest level of the sport.

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And while Sooryavanshi will be expected to carry his sensational form over to the senior level as well, the 1983 World Cup-winning captain has urged experts as well as fans to not expect too much from the teenager right away.

"He is a special talent, give him time, but he has definitely shown the talent he possesses. I think he is unbelievable, but again, he will have to conduct himself in the Indian team, keep himself fit, and many other things will follow," Dev told news agency Press Trust of India.

"How focused he remains, only he can answer, but to me, he is a special talent... There is nothing wrong with giving respect to the young kid, but expecting too much at this stage would be wrong," he added.

Sooryavanshi is currently representing India A in a 50-over triangular series in Sri Lanka also featuring 'A' teams of the host nation as well as Afghanistan. He had starred in India's triumph at the U-19 World Cup in Zimbabwe in February, smashing a whirlwind 175 in the final in Harare.