Fans react after Vaibhav Sooryavanshi omitted from India XI for 2nd T20I in Ranchi

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was left out of India’s playing XI for the second T20I against West Indies at the JSCA Stadium in Ranchi on Friday, October 9, prompting a flurry of reactions from supporters on X (formerly Twitter).

India entered the match after winning the opening game by eight wickets and made no changes to their playing XI, with the team management choosing to stick with the same combination. After winning the toss, West Indies captain Shai Hope opted to bowl. Fifteen-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who had also missed the first T20I, was omitted again, a decision that surprised many fans given his recent T20 form.

Supporters posted strong reactions on X, including the short message "Vaibhav Sooryavanshi ko phir se bitha diya yaar." One longer post read: "Vaibhav sooryavanshi ko phir se bitha diya yaar 🤦‍♂️ Where is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻 fuck off Day by day loosing interest in T20 match 💔💔💔Log Vaibhav Sooryavanshi ko dekhne ke atur hai but ye BCCI and Team Management 🤡🤡🤡🤡."

Other users questioned the selection choice with posts such as "What should one call it? Vaibhav Sooryavanshi should have been in playing XI ,after all Ranchi is like a home turf for him ,ignoring him here is absolute unjustifiable and condemnable . #INDvsWI" and "Meko lag raha hai they’re just humiliating Samson now ki tereko justice chahiye tha na le ab ache se khel aur ab agar nikaalenge toh aise nikaalenge ki poora hi nikaal denge Vaibhav Sooryavanshi remains on the bench, Gautam Gambhir will not see heaven even by mistake. So Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will never get a chance again even after playing well in his last T20 international games. #IndvWI."

Supporters pointed to Sooryavanshi’s recent statistics to question the omission: he scored two half-centuries in his last five innings on India’s tour of Zimbabwe and was named Player of the Series on that tour, scoring 151 runs in three matches at an average of 50.33 and a strike rate of 196.10. In the Asian Games 2026 semi-final against Sri Lanka he made 38 off 21 balls, hitting six fours and two sixes at a strike rate of 180.95.

The coverage noted that Sooryavanshi had already produced runs in previous matches and had been given an opening opportunity when Sanju Samson was moved out of the top slot; the article asked, "So what exactly went wrong? What mistake did Vaibhav make to lose his place and make way for Sanju Samson to return…" He has scored 246 runs in eight T20Is with a strike rate of 186.36.

Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson continued as India’s opening pair for the second T20I.