Fast-Track Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Into India Test Team Like Sachin Tendulkar, Says Zubin Bharucha

Zubin Bharucha urged India to fast-track Vaibhav Sooryavanshi into the Test team, comparing the teenager to Sachin Tendulkar.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi continues to grab attention in IPL 2026 after a sensational season with more than 400 runs in 10 matches, including a century. The 15-year-old batter now finds himself linked with a possible India call-up, with reports suggesting selectors could fast-track him into the national T20I setup.

Former talent scout and mentor Zubin Bharucha pushed for an even riskier move, backing Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for an early India Test debut. Bharucha, who first identified Sooryavanshi’s talent and brought him into a franchise setup, compared the youngster’s rise to the early days of Sachin Tendulkar.

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Speaking to Wisden, Bharucha said Sooryavanshi already stands ahead of several players in terms of runs, strike rate and overall impact. He urged Indian cricket to take a “leap of faith” similar to the one made with Tendulkar more than 30 years ago and introduce the teenager to international cricket immediately.

“That’s a difficult one because, honestly, if you look at it from any sort of metric – score, strike-rate, run scored – he is already ahead of so many people waiting in line. I actually feel they need to take that leap of faith, as they did with Sachin Tendulkar, and blood him straightaway,” Bharucha said.

Bharucha Suggests No. 5 or No. 6 Role for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

Bharucha then explained that Sooryavanshi’s technique already stands out because he prefers staying on the back foot and avoids committing too early with the front foot against moving deliveries.

However, he suggested that India should initially use the teenager lower down the order instead of opening in Test cricket. He recommended batting positions No. 5 or No. 6, where Sooryavanshi could attack older balls and score quick 40s or 50s before gradually learning to handle the new ball in difficult overseas conditions.

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“My belief is that technically, he doesn’t commit himself enough. He is always on the back foot, and that to me is the holy grail of batting. So when the ball is moving, if you don’t commit your front foot, that is talking about the greats of the greats. The question is whether we can get him to follow the same sequence when the ball is moving. I also feel that opening isn’t his calling. He has so much more to offer that we would be amiss to say that go into the opening slot straightaway,” Bharucha said.

“I won’t put him at 4 at the moment. He is slightly behind that. 5-6 number, where he can come in potentially in the 60th or the 70th over, pile on a quickfire 40-50. Then maybe when the new ball comes somewhere along the way, he learns to manage that. For example, if there’s a Test match in Bengaluru, he can still open and score runs, but if he’s going to Leeds or somewhere else, where you can’t see the ball with all the members hovering around, that might be a challenge,” he continued.

“Still, over time if he figures it out, he would be equally devastating at the top as he would be as he would be down the order. That would be the final piece in the jigsaw,” Zubin Bharucha concluded.