‘He deserves his place’: AB de Villiers backs selectors' bold call on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (Image credit: ICC)

NEW DELHI: South African batting legend AB de Villiers has thrown his weight behind India’s decision to hand teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi his maiden international call-up, describing the selectors’ move as both “the right call” and a “brave decision”.The 15-year-old made history on Saturday when he was named in India’s squads for the tours of Ireland and England and the Asian Games, becoming the youngest player ever selected for the national side and eclipsing the mark set by Sachin Tendulkar in 1989. Speaking at an event in Mumbai, de Villiers said the selectors deserved credit for resisting the temptation to opt for experience.“It’s definitely the right call from the selectors. So well done to them for making the brave decision. It would have been easy to say that he’s still too young and he’s not ready, and go for more experience. He’s broken down that door, and he deserves his place in the Indian T20 team, so I’m happy for him,” the former South African captain said.

‘No doubt Sooryavanshi’s got the talent’

While de Villiers refrained from making definitive predictions about Sooryavanshi’s red-ball future, he expressed confidence that the youngster possesses the skill set to succeed across formats if he chooses that path.“Yeah, he’s a wonderful talent. The red-ball thing I absolutely cannot answer. I think he can if he wants to, but there’s your answer, and there’s the big question as well is does he really want to? Time will tell. There’s no doubt he’s got the talent and the ability to do so. It won’t always be easy, and I’ve mentioned that a few times before,” de Villiers said.The batting great acknowledged that Test cricket would present a different set of challenges, but backed the Bihar-born prodigy to overcome them.“If he decides to play red-ball cricket, there will be some challenges, but he’s got the skill and the ability to work through that and in my opinion, I hope he does try and play Test cricket, but I doubt it. We’ll see in future,” he added.Sooryavanshi’s rise has been nothing short of extraordinary. The Rajasthan Royals opener dominated IPL 2026 with 776 runs at a staggering strike rate of 237.30 and smashed a record 72 sixes.