ENG vs IND: Why is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi not playing 5th T20I in Southampton?

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was part of the ENG vs IND 4th T20I.

India are clashing with England in the fifth T20I on Saturday, July 11. The encounter between the two teams is underway at The Rose Bowl in Southampton. It is a dead-rubber game as the hosts have already sealed the five-match series, winning three games in a row.

England have dominated India in all departments in the last three encounters. Harry Brook & Co. chased down a 191-run target in the 2nd T20I by four wickets and defended a 201-run total in the 3rd game, bowling out India for just 76 runs. Facing a defeat by 125 runs, India suffered their biggest-ever defeat in the shortest format by the margin of runs.

In the ENG vs IND 4th T20I, the hosts restricted India to 158/7 in the 1st innings and later chased down the target by nine wickets like a walk in the park. This time, Harry Brook and Phil Salt slammed half-centuries and etched a stand of 146 runs to propel England to a spectacular series victory.

Meanwhile, India won the toss and opted to BOWL first in the 5th T20I in Southampton. At the toss, Shreyas Iyer revealed that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is not part of India’s playing XI. He made his international debut in the 2nd T20I in Manchester and played in the last three games.

Why did Vaibhav Sooryavanshi miss ENG vs IND 5th T20I?

Notably, the 15-year-old batter has been dropped for the match and replaced by Sanju Samson. India have made one more change, replacing Washington Sundar with Suryansh Shedge.

Sooryavanshi replaced Samson in the playing 11 in the second game but could not make a mark in his first three games, getting out for less than 15 runs in each encounter. India also lost all these matches. Hence, Samson has been recalled into the playing XI for the 5th match.

Speaking at the toss, Indian skipper Shreyas Iyer said, “We are gonna bowl first, considering the bowling which we’ve done for the last couple of matches. I feel that we’ve tried, almost tried and experienced almost everything. So, today based on the conditions, windy, and also the weather seemed to be, we had a chat before, that they mentioned that the wicket won’t change that much. So, based on that, selected to bowl first.

Revealing the playing XI for the last game, the Indian skipper added, “Yeah, we’ve got two changes. Suryansh Shedge in for Washington and Sanju Samson comes in for Sooryavanshi. I feel this is the time we need to try what’s the best going forward for us as a team. So based on that, we decided this”.

India’s playing XI vs ENG for 5th T20I

Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (C), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.

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