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After his explosive IPL 2026 season, many have been left in awe of 15-year-old Rajasthan Royals boy Vaibhav Suryavanshi. Since his impressive IPL debut in 2025, many pundits have been calling for him to be included in the Indian national team squad despite his young age.
On Tuesday, the senior men’s selection committee selected India’s squad for the one-off Test and three-match ODI series against Afghanistan.
Major news from both Test and ODI teams
In these squads, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel dropped a few bombs. Some players were dismissed while others received call-ups for the first time. Rishabh Pant was sacked as the vice-captain of the Test team and was also dropped from the ODI team. KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan have replaced him in those roles respectively.
Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja were rested for both series, while Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya were included in the ODIs after passing fitness tests.
Axar Patel was also dropped from the Test team. Fast bowler Prince Yadav was included in the ODI squad, while left-arm spinner Manav Suthar was included in the Test squad. Fast bowler Gurnoor Brar and left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey were included in both the teams.
Ajit Agarkar addresses Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s boycott
Contrary to expectations, Vaibhav Suryavanshi did not get a place in any team. Speaking during the press meeting after the announcement of the team, he explained why Suryavanshi was not selected.
“Vaibhav Suryavanshi has done well, but we must not forget Yashasvi Jaiswal. He is equally impressive.” [Sooryavanshi] Yes, Jaiswal has performed well. Agarkar said, Vaibhav has done well to reach the A team, hopefully he will perform well there.
Also read: India vs Afghanistan Test squad: Full details of shocking exclusions and surprising inclusions
Vaibhav Suryavanshi selected for India A
Although he did not find a place in the main team, Suryavanshi was considered good enough to be selected for India A.
He was named in the India A squad that will play the main team matches as well as a tri-series in Sri Lanka against Sri Lanka A and Afghanistan A. That series will start from June 9 and end on June 21.
The tri-series team will be led by Tilak Verma, while Riyan Parag has been made his deputy.
India A team for tri-series: Tilak Verma (captain), Priyansh Arya, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Riyan Parag (vice-captain), Ayush Badoni, Nishant Sindhu, Harsh Dubey, Suryansh Shedge, Prabhsimran Singh (wicketkeeper), Kumar Kushagra (wicketkeeper), Vipraj Nigam, Yash Thakur, Yudhveer Singh, Anshul Kamboj, Arshad Khan.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi in IPL 2026
Suryavanshi continued his excellent form from IPL 2025 to IPL 2026. In fact, it could be argued that he has gone a long way in this regard.
So far, he has scored 486 runs in 12 matches with 2 half-centuries and one century. His century is still the fastest century of this season in terms of balls faced.
His runs have come at an average of 40.50 and a tremendous strike rate of 238.74. He has also hit 43 sixes, the most by any player this year.
Both Rajasthan Royals and Suryavanshi will be in action against Lucknow Supergiants in IPL 2026 on Tuesday.
