Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma has backed Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to make his debut for the Indian team. Sharma reckons the prodigy batter deserves to make his India debut against Ireland after impressing one and all with his pyrotechnics.

Meanwhile, Sooryavanshi, 15, earned his maiden India T20I call-up after scoring 776 runs in 16 matches of IPL 2026 at a blistering strike rate of 237.30 and an average of 48.50 for Rajasthan Royals.

The youngster continued his rich form, scoring 94 runs off just 29 balls in the tri-series final against Sri Lanka A at Dambulla on Sunday.

“It’s a magnificent achievement, I’d say, for Vaibhav. He possesses exceptional talent; he’s shown it by the way he’s taken on all the world’s best bowlers. So, he truly deserves this debut, and I’m looking forward to it. I wish him all the best for his debut and am really happy for him,” Rajkumar Sharma said on ANI.

Sharma revealed that young talents have started coming to the academies, but a talent of Sooryavanshi’s level is rare.

“Yes, definitely, very young kids have started coming, and their parents want to enrol them. For example, someone brought a 5-year-old kid to me, and I said, ‘No, he’s still very young, let him play for now, you play with him, and enrol him in coaching when he turns 8.’ They asked, ‘If we enrol him at 8, how will he become like Vaibhav Suryavanshi?’ So, people’s expectations have certainly risen because a youngster has done so well. But such players are born only once in a generation,” he said.

India will play the first T20I against Ireland at Belfast on Friday.