Vaibhav Sooryavanshi omitted from India XI for 1st T20I vs West Indies in Lucknow
India are set to face the West Indies in the first T20I of the five-match series at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on October 6, 2026, and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is not part of India’s playing XI. The omission has drawn attention ahead of the opening fixture.
India recently won the ODI series against the West Indies 2-1, while the T20I squad — captained by Shreyas Iyer with Tilak Varma as deputy — successfully defended their Asian Games 2026 gold in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. In that tournament India beat Sri Lanka one-sidedly in the semi-final and then defeated Pakistan by 20 runs to claim the men’s cricket gold. Iyer’s captaincy followed a difficult start after a 2-0 defeat against Ireland; under him India lost six of their seven opening games before compiling a nine-game winning streak.
Fans have questioned Sooryavanshi’s absence from the XI, and the official explanation is tactical preference from the coaching staff and captain. Gautam Gambhir and Shreyas Iyer opted to give opportunities to Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma instead. The selectors cited Samson’s and Sharma’s experience of representing the nation in the big leagues as the reason they provide more balance to the side.
The 15-year-old Sooryavanshi has featured in eight T20Is for India, scoring 246 runs at an average of 30.75 with a strike rate of 186. He has registered two half-centuries for the Men in Blue and his highest T20I score is 81. Those figures form the statistical basis for the interest in his selection status.
Sooryavanshi appeared in the Asian Games final against Pakistan last week. Across two matches at the continental competition in Japan he accumulated a total of 53 runs and faced 30 deliveries.
India will travel to Ranchi, Indore, Hyderabad and Bengaluru for the remaining four T20Is of the series, and Sooryavanshi is likely to get a chance to play in at least one of those matches. India won the toss in the Lucknow fixture and elected to bowl first.
