Vaibhav Sooryavanshi needs to find ‘blueprint’ for different formats,…

Bihar and Rajasthan Royals opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is probably the best thing to happen in India cricket in many year. At only 15 years of age, Sooryavanshi has become a ‘phenom’ in international cricket and made immediate after making his debut at the Asian Games 2026.

Sooryavanshi, who was consigned to the bench in the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan last month, returned to Team India playing 11 for the semifinal of Asian Games 2026 against Sri Lanka and came up with a crucial 38 off 21 balls on a difficult pitch at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin on Thursday,

Ahead of India’s gold medal match against arch-rivals Pakistan on Saturday, South Africa and Royal Challengers Bengaluru cricket legend AB de Villiers spoke to India.com and believes Sooryavanshi needs to find ways to succeed in all three formats of the game. rocore.sbs

“Yes, he’s (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi) absolutely phenomenal to watch. I’m not surprised to be honest. It was a matter of time before these youngsters would arrive with that kind of mindset that we can actually completely destroy bowling attacks, especially in that first six overs in T20 cricket,” AB de Villiers, who will be leading South Africa Legends team in World Championship of Legend (WCL) 2026 from Saturday, told India.com.

“What Sooryavanshi has done in IPL was great to watch. And it’s not going to stop here. We’re going to see plenty more of that. The next phase for him is to find a blueprint in different formats, in different conditions, realizing that every game poses a different challenge and playing the situation instead of just playing one way or being one dimensional with his game.

“So I would urge him on to keep developing his game. I think he picked up a little bit on that in the UK when he toured England. My message to him would be to assess every single match he plays and get a feel for what he’s confronted with on the day and to respect that whatever his decision is, whether it’s a flat wicket and let’s go for 60 of 20 balls or realizing today is a day where maybe 30 of 20 balls will be okay,” he added.

Sooryavanshi was part of the East Zone team as vice-captain under Ishan Kishan which won the Duleep Trophy 2026 title last month. The BCCI selectors would love to see him develop in a destructive Test batter as well.

“I would love to watch him play all formats of the game. It would be so good for Test cricket to see players like that break through. Hopefully there’s a chapter in his career where he plays a bit of Test cricket. He’s got all the talent in the world and what he’s achieved is phenomenal. He’s still very young, so there’s plenty of time,” De Villiers said.

THE NAMES YOU GREW UP WATCHING ARE BACK!

India’s Yuvraj Singh, South Africa’s ABD & legends from across the world are all set for the World Championship of Legends.

Catch all the action from World Championship of Legends LIVE on FanCode #WorldChampionshipOfLegends pic.twitter.com/FxW2LVGUxG

— FanCode (@FanCode) October 2, 2026

Australia Legends tried to remind us of SA’s World Cup record against them: AB de Villiers

The 42-year-old South African played a major role in winning the WCL 2025 title for his side. Champions South Africa will open their campaign against West Indies on Sunday, October 4 but De Villiers is looking forward to renewing his rivalry against Australia.

“Last year we played in the final against Pakistan. It was a great game of cricket. They posted a really good score and we did a fantastic chase to win that trophy. Our semi final was a very close battle against arch-rivals Australia. As you guys know, a lot of World Cups we lost out against Australia. So there was definitely that kind of a nervous feeling going to that game and Australia did everything they could to remind us of our World Cup record,” De Villiers revealed about his memories from WCL 2025.

“They’ve (Australia) always sort of been our bogey team in big tournaments. And that was in the back of our minds. So it was great to turn the tide against them in that semi-final where we played the big moments better than them.

“But India obviously coming with some big names. I see most of the squads have really dug deep to get active players involved, players who are still playing franchise cricket around the world. If they’re not playing franchise cricket, at least club cricket. So we start our first game against the West Indies on the 4th of October. I’m very much looking forward to seeing some of my old teammates and foes. Chris Gale comes to mind, Dwayne Bravo, just a lot of legends everywhere you look,” De Villiers said.

Where can I watch livestreaming of South Africa vs West Indies World Champions Legends (2026) match in India?

The South Africa vs West Indies World Champions Legends (2026) match will be available for live streaming on FanCode website and app on Sunday, October 4 from 5pm IST.

Big day for the cricket fans as they will witness a cult rivalry at the Korogi Athletic Park in Nisshin City, Japan. The Indian team will take on their arch-rivals Pakistan in the finals of the Asian Games 2026 to compete for a gold medal.

This match is going to be interesting for both sides as both of them will try their best to secure a gold medal for their respective country. The Men in Blue will look to defend their men’s cricket Asian Games title.

Speaking about their last matches in the Asian Games 2026, Shreyas Iyer’s Team India faced Sri Lanka in the semi-finals of this event. While batting first, the Indian team scored 169 runs on the board in 20 overs, where the star Indian player and one of the finest batters of all time, Ishan Kishan, played a phenomenal knock for his side by adding an 80-run contribution to the scoreboard. He made this score off 46 balls. In his knock, he smashed four fours and five sixes at a strike rate of 173.

Meanwhile, pocket dynamite Vaibhav Sooryavanshi also played a short but crisp innings for his side in the semi-final clash against Sri Lanka. Sooryavanshi scored 38 runs off 21 balls, including six fours and two sixes at a strike rate of 180. While defending this total, Indian bowlers displayed their brilliance, which helped them to bowl out their opponents for a mini-score of 45 runs to seal the match by 124 runs to qualify for the finals.

On the other hand, their arch-rivals, Pakistan, faced Bangladesh as their opponents in the semi-final clash of the Asian Games 2026. The match was shortened to 13 overs from 20 overs as rain played a spoiler in this match. However, Bangladesh batted first in this match, where they managed to score 111 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. Pakistan’s bowlers played a major role in letting Bangladesh add a low score to the board. The target of 112 runs was a piece of cake for them to chase as they took 11.3 overs to chase down by losing four wickets only to win this match and confirm their spot for the final clash of the Asian Games 2026.

Throughout these Asian Games 2026, there is one thing that played a spoiler or created challenges for each side in men’s cricket, which is the weather and pitch conditions for Japan’s venue.

India vs Pakistan pitch and weather updates

Ahead of this final clash between India and Pakistan for the gold medal. It’s high time to discuss the weather updates and pitch conditions at the Korogi Athletic Park.

The weather is expected to be mostly sunny in the city on Saturday. According to AccuWeather, the temperature could be around 26 degrees Celsius at 1:30pm local time (10am IST) with only 3 per cent cloud cover.

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The Weather Channel is also expecting a mix of sunshine and clouds, with the temperature staying close to 26 degrees Celsius.

The pitch at Korogi Athletic Park has not been easy for batters. The average first-innings score is 125, and seven out of 10 innings have seen teams score less than 150 runs. The pitch has also helped spinners with some turn and slow bounce. Batters may need to play carefully and take time before going for big shots. A score of around 150-160 could be a good total on this pitch.

India vs Pakistan Predicted Playing XI

India Predicted XI: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah

Pakistan Predicted XI: Sahibzada Farhan (c), Saim Ayub, Usman Khan (wk), Maaz Sadaqat, Hasan Nawaz, Abdul Samad, Arafat Minhas, Ahmed Daniyal, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Abrar Ahmed, Sufyan Moqim

ભારતીય ટુકડીએ 2026 એશિયન ગેમ્સમાં અત્યાર સુધીમાં અસાધારણ રીતે સારું પ્રદર્શન કર્યું છે, જેમાં તીરંદાજીએ વિવિધ ઇવેન્ટ્સમાં સૌથી વધુ મેડલ જીત્યા છે. 3 ઓક્ટોબરના રોજ, ધ્યાન અસંખ્ય મેડલ પર રહેશે, જેમાં ભારત અને પાકિસ્તાની ક્રિકેટ ટીમો વચ્ચે ગોલ્ડ મેડલ મેચનો સમાવેશ થાય છે. વધુમાં, પુરુષોની હોકી ટીમ ગોલ્ડ મેડલ મેચમાં મલેશિયન ટીમનો સામનો કરશે, જેમાં ગોલકીપર 2028 ઓલિમ્પિક માટે સ્થાન મેળવવાની આશા રાખશે. ભારતીય તીરંદાજો તીરંદાજીમાં વ્યક્તિગત રિકર્વ ઇવેન્ટમાં ભાગ લેશે. હાલમાં, ભારત 2026 એશિયન ગેમ્સમાં મેડલ ટેલીમાં પાંચમા ક્રમે છે, જેમાં કુલ 77 મેડલ છે, જેમાં 17 ગોલ્ડ, 25 સિલ્વર અને 35 બ્રોન્ઝ મેડલનો સમાવેશ થાય છે.

India’s under-fire bowling attack would be eyeing an improved outing with the pressure especially mounting on veteran Ravindra Jadeja when the home team takes on the West Indies in the third and final ODI here on Saturday.

India have dominated the series but rather than their performance, the talk has centered around the batting friendly pitches.

With the series already in their pocket, India will look for their new-ball bowlers to finally make an early dent. The bowling attack has been left wanting, picking up just one wicket in the first 10 overs across the two games and leaking 177 runs in the two Powerplays.

India have struggled to get wickets in the middle overs with Kuldeep Yadav not getting much support from the other bowlers. An experienced campaigner like Jadeja is under scrutiny having picked up just three wickets in his last eight games.

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