Gambhir tells Vaibhav Sooryavanshi he must wait for India T20I chance ahead of West Indies series

Gautam Gambhir has explained to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi why the 15-year-old will have to wait for his opportunity in India's T20I side, ahead of the five-match home series against the West Indies running from October 6 to 17.

The opener slots are a three-way contest and one of the key selection talking points for the series, with India having chosen Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma to continue after three T20Is against Afghanistan at home; Vaibhav was not selected for that Afghanistan series. Gambhir said he spoke with the youngster personally to outline the rationale for retaining an established combination: "It was a new experience for me as well. Yes, he was in good form, but I made him understand that sometimes, because of the players who have done well for a long time, he will have to wait for his opportunity," Gambhir told JioStar's Follow the Blues.

Vaibhav made scores at the Asian Games that strengthened his case: he struck 38 off 21 balls in the semi-final against Sri Lanka and made 15 in the gold-medal match versus Pakistan, hitting two sixes, with India at the Asian Games coached by VVS Laxman.

By comparison, Sanju Samson scored 7 off 9 against Sri Lanka and 2 off 4 in the final, while Abhishek Sharma managed seven in the semi-final before producing 61 off 28 against Pakistan in the gold-medal game.

Gambhir set out the selection dilemma plainly: "If Vaibhav plays today, then it's going to be a tough conversation between me and whoever we leave out, whether it's Abhishek or whether it's Sanju," he said. "So, we can't suddenly ignore a combination that has created such an impact over the last one and a half or two years, and after three or four failures, drop them and play a young player who is very talented, who is also in very good form."

Addressing external pressure, Gambhir added: "Social media or outside noise doesn't decide the playing eleven. It depends on who in that dressing room, or who the coach and captain feel can win us the match, or what is the best playing eleven, and who have done well for such a long time." He also defended continuity, noting selection choices were about taking the right decisions rather than popular ones: "It is very easy for me to take popular decisions, but it is probably the toughest thing for me to take the right decisions," Gambhir said. "And we've taken the right decision of continuing with Sanju and Abhishek."

Last month Gambhir described dropping Sanju Samson during India's tour of England as one of the toughest calls he had taken; Sooryavanshi made his T20I debut in England when Samson made way for the teenager after a run of three low scores that followed his T20 World Cup performances, and Samson said he could understand the management's decision, citing Sooryavanshi's record-breaking IPL campaign.

Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma are likely to open for India against the West Indies in the first T20I, which will be played at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Tuesday.