Former Indian batter Subramaniam Badrinath said Abhishek Sharma has earned more flexibility than his opening partner Sanju Samson in T20Is. With the arrival of 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, India have faced a conundrum at the top of the order as well. After Samson failed in a hat-trick of T20Is in Ireland and England, Sooryavanshi replaced him, but he also failed in his first three matches, which forced India to bring Samson back for the final T20I in England.
However, S Badrinath backed the team management for granting Abhishek a longer rope, saying on his YouTube channel, Cric with Badri, “You’ve to give the leeway to Abhishek Sharma because he was extremely consistent last year. He scored a huge quantity of runs at a brilliant strike rate and was the No. 1-ranked player in the world. When you have all these under your belt, his case can’t be compared with Sanju Samson’s. There can’t be the same yardsticks for Abhishek and Samson when Abhishek has got numbers like these.”
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Subramaniam Badrinath also said Vaibhav Sooryavanshi should continue warming the bench, with Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma opening the batting in T20Is for India as well.
“I have nothing against Sooryavanshi and I like him a lot. But let him wait; he’s only 15. So he can play when his time comes. Say another player named ‘A’ wins the Orange Cap next year, looks extremely talented, and is only 14 or 15. Will you drop Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and pick that player? Because this is what happens in India. There will be hype created because there is no shortage of talent in India. So there needs to be a fixed process followed,” again said Badrinath.
“Also, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi shouldn’t modify his game, which might happen if he’s in and out of the team. This approach is what has got him to this point. However, if he’s given the next 10 games in the West Indies and New Zealand, you can’t go back to Sanju Samson again. It should be like you’ve moved on because he’s 30+,” he concluded.
