IND vs NZ T20Is: Wil Sooryavanshi play? Skipper Shreyas Iyer clears the air on Samson vs Vaibhav debate

India skipper Shreyas Iyer has made it clear that teenage batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi would have to wait to get his opportunity. Iyer made the statement on the eve of the first of five T20Is, which is set to be played in Christchurch on Thursday (Oct 22). Sooryavanshi had made his India debut in T20Is earlier this year, but the pair of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma is still preferred. The 15-year-old has risen through the ranks after a blockbuster IPL 2026 where he won the Orange Cap for most runs (776 runs) in the tournament while playing for Rajasthan Royals.

Iyer shares thoughts on Sooryavanshi getting opportunities in NZ T20Is

Speaking about his potential role in the five-match T20I series, Iyer was clear that the teenager would have to wait to get his opportunities. "He has many more years ahead to get opportunities," he said.

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"It's not as if he can just walk straight into the team right now because our openers have been scoring consistently and also won us the World Cup."

The debate to play Sooryavanshi over Samson has been going on for some time now, but the management—including coach Gautam Gambhir and skipper Iyer—has backed Samson over Vaibhav. Samson played a crucial role in India's T20 World Cup title defence earlier this year with two blistering fifties in the semi-final and the final.

Squads

India: Shreyas Iyer (C), Tilak Varma (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan (WK), Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakaravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav

New Zealand: Mitchell Santner (C), Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, Josh Clarkson, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Bevon Jacobs, Kyle Jamieson, Adam Milne, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert, Nathan Smith and Blair Tickner

Complete schedule of IND vs NZ T20I series