Vaibhav Sooryavanshi: A historic match will be played between India and Japan on 22 September. The men's cricket team, captained by Shreyas Iyer, will start its campaign in the Asian Games 2026 by playing the quarterfinal match on September 28. But, before this a match will be played between India and Japan. Now the question coming in the mind of the fans is whether Vaibhav Suryavanshi will get a chance to play against Japan, will he be included in the playing eleven? If you also have this question in your mind, then in this article we are going to give you the answer… So let us know whether Vaibhav Suryavanshi will be seen playing against Japan or not.
Gautam Gambhir's statement made everything clear
After the end of the third ODI match played with Afghanistan, during the post match presentation, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir made it clear that Vaibhav Suryavanshi will have to wait for his turn. He says that the one who is already in the team will be given the first chance and the one who came later will have to wait.
When asked about Vaibhav during the press conference, Gautam Gambhir said, “From Vaibhav's point of view, it was very clear that he would have to wait for his opportunity. We know how much talent he has and what he can do, but a player who has been performing well for the last two-three years will always be ahead of a player who has just joined the team.”
“Whenever he gets a chance, he will get a chance to play for a long time. That's the way of Indian cricket, we want competition and talent in the dressing room, but that's how cricket works. Whether you are 15 or 30, you have to wait for your opportunity.”
Building friendships and strengthening bonds over cricket🇮🇳🤝🇯🇵
BCCI President Mr Mithun Manhas and Team India members met with His Excellency ONO Keiichi, Ambassador of Japan to India in Delhi, ahead of the historic Japan-India bilateral T20I. Mr Ambassador presented The… pic.twitter.com/LKX8bcpARw
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 16, 2026
Sanju Samson's form is also the reason
In the 3-match T20 series played with Afghanistan, the team management included Sanju Samson along with Abhishek Sharma in the playing-11 for the opening. Even though in the first match, Sanju Samson was out after scoring 10 runs, but then in the second match, Sanju Samson batted brilliantly and was out after scoring 57 runs in just 22 balls. Then, in the third T-20 match, Sanju played an inning of 50 runs in 35 balls. In such a situation, it would not be wrong to say that Sanju Samson's form is also a reason, due to which Vaibhav Suryavanshi may have to sit on the bench in the match to be played against Japan.
The match is being held under Sport 75 initiative.
This match between India and Japan is being organized under the 'Sport 75' initiative. The aim of this initiative is to strengthen mutual contact, cooperation and relationships between the people of the two countries through sports. 'Sport 75' was launched under the agreement reached during a summit between Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In this agreement, along with increasing cooperation in the field of sports, India's claim to host the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games was also discussed.
Also read: Have you seen the craze of Virat Kohli? 50 thousand tickets for the first ODI match were sold within 24 hours