​Can you assemble teams under the sway of social media pressure? This reflects Ashwin’s strong stance on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s call-up for India’s UK tour, originally reported by Cricket News. Make Cricket News a preferred source by clicking here. Key takeaways: R Ashwin believes Sooryavanshi deserved a place in India’s T20I squad for the Ireland and England tour, but he questions whether the youngster’s debut was rushed due to online pressure rather than cricketing rationale. The 15-year-old made his T20I bow in the second match of the recent five-match series against England, finishing with scores of 14, 13 and 15 in his three appearances before being dropped for the fifth game.
Ashwin argues that tours of this nature should function like a learning period, akin to an internship, allowing a teenager to acclimate gradually to unfamiliar conditions instead of being thrown into the deep end. In a video on his YouTube channel, Ash Ki Baat, he said: “I’m still telling you, Vaibhav Suryavanshi is an incredible player. If I were the selector, I would have also picked him. But let him take his time. This is called an internship, right?” He added that he sometimes feels he should have played in this era; when he went on the Test tour, many people on social media insisted he must play. Yet he wasn’t selected, and the team management knew what was needed. Are you saying you can pick teams by succumbing to social media pressure?
The discussion also notes that India’s frequent XI changes during the series contributed to the underwhelming results. It’s emphasized that tours like this should serve as a developmental phase, not a platform for hastily embedding a youngster into the lineup. Ashwin draws a parallel with his own career, recalling a period when he was left out of an England tour despite strong form, simply because the team management prioritized a particular combination. He asserted that while there were times he could have played, there were also decisions where the right call was to select for the team’s broader needs. He questioned how a team can function properly if external noise is allowed to dictate selection, warning that the team management’s responsibility is paramount, and outside pressure should not derail cricketing priorities.