Santner says New Zealand have plans for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner said his team has prepared plans for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi ahead of the five-match T20I series that starts on October 22. Santner acknowledged the 15-year-old's record in the IPL, where he scored 776 runs at a strike rate of 237.30, but noted that Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson have performed consistently at the top of the order.

Santner said England used short-pitched bowling against Sooryavanshi during his debut series and indicated New Zealand had studied that approach. He added that Sooryavanshi has an important role to play for India in the future regardless of whether he features in this series. Santner also noted that the Hagley Oval offers slightly larger boundaries that could favour bowlers.

India have not selected Sooryavanshi in the playing XI for recent T20I matches, preferring the settled opening pair. Shreyas Iyer said the teenager will need to wait for his opportunity.