BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia has poured cold water on Monday’s post-match fracas in Dambulla, asking India A’s youngsters to park the incident and get back to cricket.
Words were traded, then shoves exchanged, after Sri Lanka A edged India A in a Super Over – the one-over shoot-out used to break one-day ties. The flashpoint involved 15-year-old batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Sri Lankan all-rounder Vishen Halambage. Support staff quickly stepped in, but the footage has done the rounds online.
Speaking to the Times of India, Saikia struck a firm but measured note. “India A is playing a major tournament, all the upcoming players who can stake their claim for the Indian senior team, they are in the midst of a very big tournament, a tri-nation series, so they should concentrate on their game rather than getting distracted from any collateral issues,” he said.
He added: “They should not focus on that, they should concentrate on their game and they should give their best performance so that India can come out with a victory in the tri-nation series. That is our only concern now.”
No official rap on the knuckles, then. Saikia confirmed that the board has left the matter with the coaching group on tour. “It is not our duty to speak to the players for any reason,” he explained. “The players are only concentrated with their games and the support staff and the coaches who are present with them, nothing else. So nobody interferes in their game and their strategy and their preparation for that big series, which is presently going on.”
That hands-off policy, he said, will not change mid-series. “We will follow this policy that during a major tournament, when they are playing for the country, they should not get distracted by any other secondary issues, which are not of paramount importance. The important thing is India’s winning and performing well in the tri-series. So that is our focus and other than that, we are not doing anything at this stage.”
Sooryavanshi’s on-field spark is nothing new. During last year’s Under-19 Asia Cup final he gestured toward his shoe after dismissal – a moment that drew a quiet warning but little more. The teenager’s returns since, however, have been hard to ignore: stacks of runs at domestic age-group level and a clean ball-striking method that has already earned him a spot on India’s senior T20I tours of Ireland and England later this summer.
Team-mates privately say he is still learning the line between competitive edge and over-exuberance – not unusual for a player barely out of school. Halambage, a bustling seam-bowling all-rounder, is also understood to have moved on quickly.
India A meet Bangladesh A on Thursday before a possible final at the weekend. A couple of good knocks – and a calm handshake or two – would be enough to shift the conversation back to batting averages rather than body-checks.
