I feel he generally is a 50-over phenomenon as nicely

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has backed teenage sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi to succeed in 50-over cricket as well after his recent outings for the ‘A’ team in the ongoing tri-series in Sri Lanka. The youngster chipped in a couple of promising cameos in his first set of games for the team after a blockbuster Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign.

Suryavanshi’s Orange Cap-winning season helped him get a maiden national team call-up for the T20Is in Ireland and England in the June-July window. But before that, he has availed an opportunity to showcase his abilities in the longer format, something he has not been able to do much in his short career so far.

Coming into the tri-series, the 15-year-old had made eight List-A appearances in his career since his debut during the 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy.

After being impressed by Suryavanshi’s temperament and adaptability, Sanjay Manjrekar feels that he will go a long way in this format of the game as well.

“India A are playing a tri-series in Sri Lanka, and I am watching Vaibhav Suryavanshi quite closely. Whatever name he has made till now, it has been in the IPL and in T20Is, and that is not the right environment to diagnose a player. I know that this is just an ‘A’ series, but the pitches are not flat here, like it is in the IPL. But I was able to see some depth in Suryavanshi’s batting,” Sanjay Manjrekar said on his social media handle.

“Now I am a bit excited after seeing his batting. If you are thinking that he is just a T20 slogger, then you are wrong. I saw him defend quite well with a straight bat, I have seen him time the ball well. I know the sample size is small, but I think he can be a 50-over phenomenon as well,” he added.

Team India A are placed second in the standings after the first round of fixtures in the tri-series. They will next face Sri Lanka A on Monday, June 15.

Vaibhav Suryavanshi scored a 22-ball 44 in his recent outing for India ‘A’

After scoring 14 runs on his India A debut, Suryavanshi put in a much more convincing outing against Afghanistan A in his second appearance.

He scored a quickfire 44 runs off 22 deliveries, before being dismissed by a bouncer, denying him a well-deserved fifty.