Remember Vaibhav Sooryavanshi vs Jasprit Bumrah duels in the Indian Premier League (IPL)? Playing for Rajasthan Royals, the 15-year-old would clobber India’s premier pacer with disdain. The script wasn’t the same on Friday as the duo trained for the first time in India colours.
Both and are a part of the Indian squad to face Afghanistan in a three-match T20I series, starting on September 13. Notably, when Sooryavanshi made his India debut in England in July, Bumrah wasn’t a part of the T20I setup and joined for the ODIs.
Under the Kotla lights, the 31-year-old decided to keep the teen sensation on his toes. Coming after a brilliant campaign, where he helped his team East Zone lift the trophy after 13 years, wasn’t ready for what what was incoming.
The first delivery from Bumrah was pitched on good length and as Sooryavanshi jabbed at it, the southpaw missed it completely. The next delivery at same length found the little one from Bihar’s Samastipur hurried as it passed his bat before it came down.
The third one was a perfect yorker that Sooryavanshi just about managed to dig it out. The fourth one was bowled slightly back of length and all the youngster could manage was a healthy nick. Within four deliveries, Bumrah had given a short trailer of what Sooryavanshi might have to face at the highest level from countries with better pace attacks.
The only time the Baby Wonder passed the test against the best was when Bumrah slightly over pitched and Sooryavanshi dispatched it through the covers.
Not just Bumrah, the likes of Yash Thakur and Arshdeep Singh too had the upper hand against . Thakur, who had received some rough treatment in the Duleep Trophy semifinal, also beat him, and so did Arshdeep with some appreciable seam movement.
In fact, Sooryavanshi also struggled during field trainings. He missed at least aerial catches during fielding drills and played and missed against all the pacers. Is the body of a 15-year-old taking too much of a toll? Probably yes, considering the fact that was on the field for 13 days out 18 during the Duleep Trophy 2026, playing three matches.
Meanwhile, the whole Indian squad trained at the Arun Jaitley Stadium for the first time for the Afghanistan series on Friday. Although India started their training a day before, the likes of Sooryavanshi, Tilak Varma, and Ishan Kishan joined the camp on Friday after the Duleep Trophy assignments.
But if one man stole the show, it had to be . He bowled a few deliveries to skipper Shreyas Iyer who was beaten for pace both on inside and outside edges. The pace was there, so was the swag and that smile of a man secured about his craft and sure about himself.
Jasprit Bumrah is back in the nets and there was happiness in every nook and corner of Kotla. The last time Bumrah played for India was against England, before being rule out midway into the series. Post that, the Indian pacer also missed the Test series against Sri Lanka.
