Team India is all set to play its second T20I game against Zimbabwe on Saturday and will be hoping to wrap up the series with a win. The visiting side won the first game of the series by seven wickets to take a 1-0 lead on Thursday. Young Vaibhav Sooryavanshi came good with the bat as he scored a brisk fifty off just 19 balls.

Kris Srikkanth, the former India batter, slammed Gautam Gambhir for the way he handled the young Rajasthan Royals star. The batter was given three games in England before being dropped for the final game in Southampton. The move didn’t sit well with many former players, who slammed the team management.

The 66-year-old took to his YouTube channel and said that the young batter has a good range of shots and asked Gambhir why he foolishly dropped the player after three failures with the bat to crush his confidence. For the unversed, Ex-Indian cricket legend VVS Laxman is the head coach for the Zimbabwe tour and the Asian Games 2026.

The 15-year-old played three games in England, scoring just 42 runs with a highest score of 15. The final game in Southampton saw Sanju Samson return to the playing XI. Shreyas Iyer, speaking to the media after the game, had said that the decision was taken keeping the team combinations in mind.

1983 World Cup winner lauds youngster’s dedication

Srikkanth, speaking on his YouTube channel, also said that he liked the dedication shown by the 15-year-old prodigy. He stated that the batter went straight to RR’s camp and practice after the England tour and worked on his weakness against the short-ball to show the world why he is special.

The former skipper also added that Vaibhav was batting effortlessly with a strike-rate of above 250. He also said that after three failures, many batters try to take the safe option, but the youngster played his natural game and scored a 19-ball fifty. Srikkanth also termed it the batter’s “greatness” for playing an aggressive knock after three failures.