Former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull believes Vaibhav Sooryavanshi should soon find a place in India’s international setup, even suggesting the teenager could open the batting in Test cricket.During a discussion on Sky Sports on the opening day of the first Test between England and New Zealand on Thursday, the idea of Sooryavanshi opening in Tests was raised.“I got a way of exhilarating Test match cricket around the globe. Open the batting with Sooryavanshi. Can you imagine seeing that in Test match cricket?” the presenter said.To which Doull replied, “It can’t be far away.”Sooryavanshi was one of the biggest stories of IPL 2026. The Rajasthan Royals batter swept several awards at the end of the tournament, including Most Valuable Player, Emerging Player of the Season, Super Striker of the Season, Orange Cap winner and Super Sixes of the Season.The Bihar-born batter finished as the tournament’s highest run-scorer with 776 runs at a strike rate of 237.30.His season included a record 72 sixes and several milestones that put him among the standout performers in IPL history.At 15 years and 65 days old, Sooryavanshi also became the youngest Orange Cap winner in IPL history. The previous record belonged to Gujarat Titans opener Sai Sudharsan, who won it at 23 years and 231 days in 2025. Shubman Gill had earlier held the record in 2023 at 23 years and 263 days.The teenager came close to matching Virat Kohli’s record of four centuries in a single IPL season. Apart from his century against Sunrisers Hyderabad, he was dismissed in the nineties three times — 93 against Lucknow Super Giants, 97 in the Eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad and 96 in Qualifier 2 against Gujarat Titans.Sooryavanshi also became the fastest player to reach 1,000 IPL runs in terms of balls faced, getting there in 440 deliveries and going past West Indies batter Andre Russell. In terms of innings, he became the second-fastest to the milestone, taking 23 innings. Shaun Marsh remains the fastest, having reached it in 21 innings.Praising the youngster’s season, Doull said, “It’s extraordinary. It’s phenomenal. I mean, watching that leading run scorer in the tournament. I don’t know how many awards he got at the bag in the tournament (IPL), but it was just phenomenal for a 16-year-old kid.”Doull added that India should find a place for Sooryavanshi in one of their national teams soon.“I don’t know who they replace, but yeah they got to find room for him somewhere in some of those teams.”
