Excellent batting from South Africa AB de Villiers has backed Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s talent but said he is not sure if the 15-year-old will choose to pursue Red Ball cricket in the future.Speaking at an event in Mumbai on Sunday, de Villiers said Suryavanshi has the skills to succeed in Test cricket but questioned whether the youngster would want to take that route.“Yes, he’s a great talent. The Red Ball thing I can’t answer for sure. I think he can if he wants to, but your answer is, as well as a big question, does he really want to do it? Time will tell. There’s no doubt that he has the talent and the ability to do it. It’s not always going to be easy,” Villi said earlier, “some people said,” via news agency ANI.The former South African captain said there would be challenges if Suryavanshi opted to play the longer format but backed his ability to handle them.“If he decides to play red ball cricket, there will be some challenges, but he has the skills and ability to work through it and in my opinion, I hope he tries to play Test cricket, but I doubt it. We will see in the future.”De Villiers also backed the selectors’ decision to include Suryavanshi in India’s T20I squad for the upcoming tours of Ireland and England as well as the Asian Games.On Saturday, the BCCI included Suryavanshi in all three squads, making him the youngest player to be selected for the Indian team at the age of 15. He broke the 36-year-old record of Sachin Tendulkar, who made his international debut at the age of 16 against Pakistan in 1989.De Villiers justified the move by the selectors and said that the youngster has earned his place.“It’s definitely the right call by the selectors. Well done to them for taking a brave decision. It would have been easy to say he’s still too young and he’s not ready, and go for more experience. He has broken that door, and he deserves his place in the Indian T20 team, so I am happy for him,” he said.Suryavanshi earned a call-up after a record-breaking IPL 2026 season with Rajasthan Royals. The Bihar batsman finished as the tournament’s highest run-scorer with 776 runs at a strike rate of 237.30.He also hit a record 72 sixes during the season and collected several postseason awards, including Most Valuable Player (MVP), Emerging Player of the Season, Super Striker, Orange Cap and Super Six of the Season.
Do you believe that Vaibhav Suryavanshi should play red ball cricket apart from T20?
