Vibhu Suryavanshi 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 grabbed attention throughout the tournament, the former Indian batsman Sanjay Manjrikar believes there is a growing concern around how the youngster is being used by the franchise.Suryavanshi has been largely used as an impact player, appearing primarily as a batsman and rarely fielding. Manjrekar believes that this can hamper a youngster’s overall development as a cricketer, stressing that fielding is an equally important part of the game.“I am increasingly feeling that the impact player rule should also be revised for the same reason. Do we only want to see one side of Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s game?
He explained that previous generations of players were judged on all aspects of their game and not just batting ability. “We used to respect players like Inzamam-ul-Haq for his batting, but we also looked at his fielding and other aspects of his game. It helped people judge a player properly. At that time, anyone can come in, face a few balls, show his batting ability, and then disappear without showing another side of his cricket,” he added.Manjrikar further argued that young players should also experience stressful situations on the field, including dealing with mistakes and learning from them.“We’re not expecting to see all 3 dimensions of a player. But the more I think about it, it all makes sense, and you’re right, Suryavanshi, you want to see him on the field and see what happens under pressure as well. If he’s a great batsman, but a minor responsibility on the field, I’d like to see him exploited. This is something we have experienced as fielders when we drop a catch on the tension that comes with it, which is batting and cooling. You don’t want one of the highest levels of the game to be that easy,” he added.The former Indian batsman also pointed out that international cricket demands complete cricketers rather than specialists who only contribute in one discipline. According to him, the Royals are unintentionally limiting Suryavanshi’s development by using him only as an impact player.“Absolutely (is playing him as an impact player stunting his development as a fielder) and that’s a problem that’s going to happen there. India won the T20 World Cup despite having the impact player rule, a guy like Shiv Dubey is not bowling at all, but still doing well in the T20 World Cup. So things are happening. But I’m not sure any player will come in cricket. Then take a break and enjoy life. I am I just wanted to be a bit more testing for each player, not only if he is a good bowler, bowls his 4 overs, I would like to see him on the field as well,” concluded Manjrekar.
