No guarantee for Sooryavanshi in West Indies T20Is but Morkel backs youngster

No guarantee for Sooryavanshi in West Indies T20Is but Morkel backs youngster

No guarantee for Sooryavanshi in West Indies T20Is but Morkel backs youngster Photograph: (AFP)

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Team India bowling coach Morne Morkel says prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi must wait for his turn as Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma open in IND vs WI T20Is.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has enjoyed an impressive start to his brief T20I career. Still, Team India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel said the batting prodigy must wait for his turn during the West Indies T20Is. Lucknow will host the series opener on Tuesday (Oct 6). As Morkel indicated, the left-hander could start on the bench, with regular T20I openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma set to open.

Morkel stressed that Sooryavanshi can gain exposure by rubbing shoulders with T20I greats and by just spending time in the dressing room. The former South African pacer also said that Sooryavanshi must learn by watching his seniors go through their processes.

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“We all know the talent of Vaibhav. I think the more time he spends in this environment with the quality players, the more time he trains at this standard, will only be great for his cricket. And if he's not getting that game time, he's still on a bus, in the dugout, in the hotel with guys with a lot of experience.

“And I think with him sharing that sort of dressing room and talking through guys, just actually watching how the guys go through their processes and how they set up innings will be key for him,” said Morkel on the eve of the first T20I between India and the West Indies.

Morkel believes that if Vaibhav is put in the right environment and can ask the right questions and observe, he can prosper.

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“And I'm a big believer that sometimes, if you put guys in the right environment and they can ask the right questions and they can observe. So, I always challenge them.

“I said, ‘Watch what this guy is doing in training.’ How does he face his first 15 balls? When we get to stuff, what sort of game plan does he come up with? And for any young player, whether he gets game time or that game time is a little limited, it's still our job to make sure these guys learn, grow, and ask questions. I think that for me is a fantastic growth sort of mind map,” Morkel added.

Meanwhile, just three days after defending their Asian Games gold against Pakistan in the final, India’s T20I squad arrived home to play the West Indies.

T20I Squads -

India: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Naman Dhir

West Indies: Shai Hope(w/c), Kamil Pooran, Amir Jangoo, Shimron Hetmyer, Sherfane Rutherford, Rovman Powell, Roston Chase, Romario Shepherd, Gudakesh Motie, Akeal Hosein, Shamar Joseph, Matthew Forde, Keemo Paul, Quentin Sampson and Shamar Springer

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