Fans of the Indian cricket team will have to wait to see the Vaibhav Sooryavanshi make his international debut on home soil, after the 15-year-old prodigy was left out of the playing XI for all three matches of the three-T20I series against Afghanistan, which concluded on Thursday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.Sooryavanshi became India’s youngest debutant a couple of months ago in England, wherein he scored 42 runs in three matches. In the subsequent series against Zimbabwe, he topped the run-scoring leaderboard, with 151 runs at 50.33 and 196.10. Given the rich vein of form he was in, coupled with Sanju Samson’s struggle with form, Sooryavanshi was expected to open the innings for India against Afghanistan.However, Gambhir opted to revert to the opening pair that won him the 2026 T20 World Cup — Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson. In hindsight, it proved to be the correct decision, with the pair scoring 346 runs between them.On the decision of giving Samson a chance to reclaim his position, head coach Gautam Gambhir said at the post-match press conference: “I think he showed what he is capable of. Someone doesn’t become a Player of the Tournament in a World Cup without having any talent, so he has done enough. Obviously, it was tough, probably the toughest decision I’ve taken in my coaching tenure, leaving him out in that England series because obviously the way he performed before that. But again, sometimes you go with player’s form as well, and in this series, I was always very clear, from my point of view, that we want to go back with the combination that we had during the World Cup. Because those guys, after 3 or 4 failures, don’t become bad players. And the kind of cricket we play, if a team that has gone unbeaten from one World Cup to the other World Cup and has won the World Cup, I’m sure it’s a guarantee (that) suddenly, it doesn’t become a bad team after one or two series, and these guys do not become bad players after two or three failures.”Sooryavanshi, meanwhile, will have to bide his time and exercise patience before he eventually gets a run in the team, as affirmed by Gambhir.“From Vaibhav’s point of view, it was again a very clear conversation that he has to wait for his opportunity. We know the kind of talent he has. We know what he can do, but again, someone who’s done extremely well over a period of two years (Sanju Samson), obviously, he will always be ahead of someone who’s just walked into the team. So, whenever he gets that run, he will get a longer run as well, and that is what Indian cricket is all about. You want competition, you want that talent in the dressing room, but sometimes that’s how cricket goes, whether you’re a 15-year-old or a 30-year-old. When you have to wait for your opportunity, you have to wait for your opportunity,” the coach said after the game.Shuvaditya Bose is a Deputy Copy Editor at the sports desk of The Indian Express. ... Read MoreStay updated with the latest sports news across Cricket, Football, Chess, and more. Catch all the action with real-time live cricket score updates and in-depth coverage of ongoing matches.Tags:Vaibhav Suryavanshi