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BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia defended the decision to allow 15-year-old prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s parents to accompany him on India's upcoming UK tour, emphasizing the need to ease the teenager into an adult environment while dismissing social media rumors of disciplinary action
New Delhi: A 15-year-old schoolboy needs to be eased into a senior team setup, said BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia as he explained the Board’s decision to allow Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s parents to accompany him on the white-ball tour of Ireland and England later this month.
The big-hitting Sooryavanshi, who has earned his maiden call-up to the Indian T20 setup, has been selected for seven games (two against Ireland and five against England) on the tour, which begins on June 26 in Belfast.
“You see, not all national teams at the senior level have a 14 or 15-year-old in their squad. After many decades, we have someone like Vaibhav Sooryavanshi,” Saikia told PTI in an exclusive interview.
“At one point in time, it was Sachin Tendulkar (16 and a half at the time of his Test debut) who made it to the national team at such a young age. When such a young kid is part of the senior team, there are obviously a lot of issues that can crop up,” he added without elaborating.
“Therefore, to make him comfortable and help him get used to an adult environment, where all the other players are above 18 years of age and the team management members are also adults, we felt it would be helpful,” Saikia, a former Ranji Trophy player for Assam, stated further. “We are doing this because we believe it will ease a lot of issues as far as Vaibhav is concerned.”
Saikia cited the example of how senior teachers accompany students on school excursions.
“Even when a school student goes on an excursion, there is usually a senior person accompanying them. Vaibhav is still a kid. He has only just come out of school, or is perhaps in his final year of school. So, we thought it proper to allow his parents to travel with him. I am very happy that his parents are also taking good care of their kid, who is an asset for Indian cricket not only now but for the next two or three decades,” he added.
‘BCCI is not a match referee’
Saikia was also surprised to see social media speculation that the Indian board will take action against Sooryavanshi for his heated on-field exchange with Sri Lanka ‘A’ team player Vishen Halambage during a recent ‘A’ match. After a provocative comment from the Sri Lankan, there was an argument, following which Sooryavanshi pushed Halambage when he came near the Indian.
“A lot of things are going on on social media that BCCI is contemplating action, etc. Do you want BCCI to step into the domain of the match referee?” Saikia counter-questioned.
“The BCCI is not an authority; we should not intrude into the area where the match referee and the umpires are the main persons who can take any decision regarding any incident that had happened on the playground. Whatever happened, it was part of the game, and the BCCI has no role to play. The role is of the match referee. If anything goes wrong, he will take a call, the umpires will take a call, and there is a system in place,” the eminent lawyer said.