‘Didn’t change his way of playing’ – Aakash Chopra heaps praise on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi after match-winning innings vs ZIM

Former opening batter Aakash Chopra has credited Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s performance against Zimbabwe in the first T20I of the three-match series on Thursday, July 23, in Harare. The Men in Blue returned to winning ways after their disastrous tour to the British Isles, claiming victory by seven wickets.

Sooryavanshi made light work of the run chase after scoring his maiden T20I half-century. The 15-year-old returned to form to smash 50 off just 19 balls. Striking at 263.13, the left-handed batter hit four fours and as many sixes to help India chase down 126 with 40 balls to spare.

Chopra stated that it was a huge effort from Sooryavanshi to put his England disappointment behind and score runs freely once again. The Rajasthan Royals starlet made his international debut in Manchester and played three games against the Three Lions, scoring a mere 42 runs along the way.

“There was a wait to see how this boy would play, when he would play, and how many runs he would score. To be very honest, it’s only a matter of when, not if, as he would definitely score runs. However, he would have felt a little pressure because he was a part of the team and then dropped. Now he has played again, and you realize that you need to score runs. Since he is 15 years old and probably knows only one way of playing, didn’t change his way of playing, which is a good thing,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

For Sooryavanshi, the Zimbabwean conditions were not too foreign compared to England. The young opener had previously played in the country during the 2025 U19 World Cup, where he ended up scoring 439 runs, including hitting 175 in the final against England, which came off just 80 balls.

India, meanwhile, secured their first T20I victory since defeating New Zealand in the final of the 2026 T20 World Cup. Under new captain Shreyas Iyer, they had previously lost two matches to Ireland before falling to a 4-0 series defeat against England.