Maninder Singh says Vaibhav Sooryavanshi played a nervous shot on debut against England

Former Indian spinner Maninder Singh believes Vaibhav Sooryavanshi played a nervous shot on debut in the second T20I against England. Singh reckons the youngster should have played his debut match against Ireland when he was in red-hot form.

Sooryavanshi had joined the Indian team after scoring a fine knock of 94 runs off just 29 balls in the tri-series final against Sri Lanka A. Furthermore, he scored 776 runs in 16 matches of IPL 2026.

Meanwhile, Sooryavanshi was dismissed after scoring 14 runs off 10 balls at Old Trafford, Manchester on Saturday. The left-hander advanced down the track against Will Jacks but was stumped by Jos Buttler.

Maninder Singh said on ANI, “He should have been played in Ireland itself because of the rhythm he was in, the form he was in. If these failures had happened in the Ireland series, by the time he came here, he might have understood and that nervousness would have gone. Because of the way he played his shot, that was not Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s shot. That was a shot of nervousness.”

“There will be nerves. Even the big players get nervous, and he is just a 15-year-old kid. He is playing with men, he is competing with men.”

Singh feels all Indian cricket lovers need to have patience for Sooryavanshi as he has all the potential under his belt.

“All Indian cricket lovers need to have patience because he is a talented cricketer. He is an impact player. Whenever he plays, he will create such an impact that he will win the match single-handedly. So I am not too worried. Because he is a brave player and white-ball cricket today is a game of the brave, Vaibhav Suryavanshi is one of them,” said Maninder Singh (via the aforementioned source).

The third T20I between England and India will be played at Nottingham on Tuesday.