India, July 2 -- Playing Vaibhav Sooryavanshi before he deserves is the most absurd discussion that has, of late, consumed Indian cricket. Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri have been particularly critical of the team management's decision not to play him in Ireland, where India lost both their T20Is. On Wednesday, Ravi Shastri, before the first T20I against England, reiterated the teenage star should be in the playing XI for the match before talking about the Ireland series and pointing out India's mistake.

To begin with, Sooryavanshi can't get into the playing XI just like that. He is competing with Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson for the opening slot. Now, just in case Sooryavanshi's advocates have forgotten, less than four months ago, ...