Sanju,Sooryavanshi,Abhishek, are really good players: Jayasuriya

Sri Lanka great Sanath Jayasuriya has praised young Indian batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, saying he has a long way to go and will do well when opportunities come. Jayasuriya also lauded Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson as talented, proven players

Gurugram: Legendary Sri Lanka cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya has praised young Indian batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, saying the teenager has a long way to go and will do well when he gets an opportunity.

The 15-year-old Sooryavanshi made his international debut during India’s T20I tour of England in July. He was an unused member of the Indian squad during the team’s 3-0 T20I series win over Afghanistan, with Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson scoring 346 runs between them, including a 142-run opening stand in the third T20I.

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The trio are currently in Japan for India’s historic one-off T20I against Japan in Sano on Tuesday before featuring in the Asian Games in Nagoya.

“They’re talented and they’ve been proven players and all three, Sooryavanshi and all these players are really good. Sooryavanshi has a long way to go and when he will get the opportunity, he will do good,” Jayasuriya told IANS on the sidelines of the launch of the Corporate Cricket World Cup on Sunday.

Commenting on Sri Lanka’s prospects at the Asian Games, where the women’s team is set to face India in the gold-medal match and the men’s campaign is scheduled to begin later this week, Jayasuriya backed both teams to perform strongly.

“I think we have a talented, good team for Asian Games, men’s and women’s, and they’re doing well and I hope they will continue to do well,” he said.

He also praised rising Sri Lankan batting all-rounder Sonal Dinusha and hailed his ability to perform under pressure.

Dinusha scored 100 and 84 in the first Test against India in Galle, which Sri Lanka lost. In the second Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, he hit 103 and remained unbeaten on 133 to help Sri Lanka secure an impressive draw.

“Very good player, and future of Sri Lanka. It’s always been good to see a player like him performing really well under pressure. It’s not easy and in every innings he played really well,” Jayasuriya said.

The former explosive opener, who is the global ambassador for the Corporate Cricket World Cup, also highlighted the role of workplace tournaments in identifying talent and providing opportunities to players who have missed mainstream pathways.

The pan-India competition will feature 192 corporate teams across 24 cities, with each city fielding eight teams. Following the city-level qualifiers, the top two teams from each city will qualify for the July 2027 showpiece event.

The tournament will feature multiple formats, including 11-over-a-side matches, T20s and 40-over games, allowing working cricketers to demonstrate their adaptability and skills in different formats.

“As global ambassador, I have a theory about this Corporate World Cup. It’s starting from the cities and when you play in your city and when you have the opportunity, the players who are in the corporate sector, who are talented cricketers, who have missed their opportunities, they have a chance to show their talent,” Jayasuriya said.

“So from that talent, like the players we have been talking about just now, how he became a player for India, it’s like that you’ll be able to find a few players, so that’s the key,” he added.