Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 'a slight liability in the field'? Former India batter flags RR

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has emerged as one of the brightest young stars of IPL 2026, scoring an impressive 440 runs in just 11 innings at the age of 15. While his fearless batting has grabbed attention across the tournament, former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar believes there is a growing concern around how the youngster is being utilised by the franchise.

Sooryavanshi has largely been used as an Impact Player, coming in primarily as a batter and rarely taking the field. Manjrekar feels this could hamper the youngster’s overall development as a cricketer, stressing that fielding is an equally important part of the game.

“I’m increasingly feeling that the Impact Player rule should be reconsidered for this reason as well. Is this all we want to see from Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, just one side of his game? A cricketer is someone who bats well and fields well too,” Manjrekar said on the Sportstar Insight Edge Podcast.

He explained that earlier generations of players were judged on all aspects of their game, not just batting ability. “We respected players like Inzamam-ul-Haq for their batting, but we also saw their fielding and other aspects of their game. That helped people properly assess a player. Right now, someone can come in, face a few balls, display their hitting ability, and then disappear without showing the other side of their cricket,” he added.

Manjrekar further argued that young players should also experience pressure situations in the field, including dealing with mistakes and learning from them.

“We are not expecting to see all 3 dimensions of a player. But the more I think of it, it all makes sense, and you're right, Sooryavanshi, you want to see him be on the field and see what happens and be put under pressure as well. If he is a great batter, but a slight liability in the field, I'd like to see that exploited. That is also something we have experienced as fielders when we drop a catch at the tension that comes with it, which is going to be batting and chilling. You don't want one of the highest sort of levels of the sport to be that easy,” he added.

The former India batter also pointed out that international cricket demands complete cricketers rather than specialists who only contribute in one discipline. According to him, the Royals may unintentionally be limiting Sooryavanshi’s growth by using him only as an Impact Player.

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“Absolutely (Is having him play as an impact player hampering his growth as a fielder). And that is an issue that's going to be there. India won the T20 World Cup despite the impact player rule being there, despite a guy like Shivam Dube not bowling at all, but still doing well in the T20 World Cup. So things are happening. But I believe that a cricketer, not somebody, will just come in and tuck, tuck, tuck, then take a break and enjoy life. I just wanted to become a little more testing for every player, not just if he is a good bowler, bowls his 4 overs, I'd like to see him in the field as well,” Manjrekar concluded.