Key events<\/p>\n
Mid-4th over: India 50-0 (Sharma 30, Sooryavanshi 14) What would you do if you were the captain having to cope with this? Harry Brook decides to switch to spin, which, if he\u2019d done it in an episode of Yes Minister, would have been described as bold, very bold. Will Jacks\u2019 first ball is slapped for four, his second brings four more, but then \u2026<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.53 EDT<\/p>\n 3rd over: India 41-0 (Sharma 21, Sooryavanshi 14) Sooryvanshi, in the mood now, hits another six \u2013 just a pick-up shot off Tongue, easy as you like. Sharma, not to be outshone, flashes for four, off-drives for six and cover-drives for three. Welcome to T20 internationals, Josh: that\u2019s 20 off your second over.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sort of OK with the fact that Sooryavanshi is 15,\u201d says Matt Dony. \u201cI mean, some 15 year olds are, indeed, mature and capable and preternaturally talented. But I think you mistyped and stated that he was born in 2011. That can\u2019t be right, can it? Wouldn\u2019t that make him about 5 or 6? If 2011 was truly 15 years ago, that would put me in my mid-40s? Oh. Right. Nuts\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 3rd over: India 21-0 (Sharma 8, Sooryavanshi 8) Archer beats Sharma twice outside off. The wind, if anything, is bothering the batters more than the bowlers. But when Archer tries a yorker, Sharma does well, flicking the wrists to turn a block into a glance for four.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Sooryavanshi hits his first six! Off his first ball from Archer, his fellow Royal. He gets down low, plays something between a pull and a ramp and sends tha ball whirling into the crowd. After four or five balls, he has made his presence felt already.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 2nd over: India 10-0 (Sharma 4, Sooryavanshi 1) Second ball: another lavish play, another miss. Third ball: yet another miss, as Sooryavanshi shapes to whip, but it\u2019s a wide outside leg, in fact five wides. When he finally gets bat on ball, to his third legitimate delivery, he jams down on a yorker, and gets his first run for India from an inside edge! Tongue then beats Sharma outside off too.<\/p>\n Somewhere in the crowd, a Lancashire member of a certain age may be muttering, \u201cNot much to him, this lad. What\u2019s all the fuss about?\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.44 EDT<\/p>\n Sooryavanshi faces his first ball in international cricket\u2026 and misses! He flashed outside off at Josh Tongue, whose lift was too much for him.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 1st over: India 4-0 (Sharma 4, Sooryavanshi 0) Never mind the prodigy, Abhishek can play a bit too. Archer starts well, beating him with a lifter, but the next ball is swished over slip for four, with one hand off the bat. Archer beats him again, and again, before finishing with a rap on the glove. The wind assisted both the bowler\u2019s movement, away from the left-hander, and the lone scoring shot.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Sooryavanshi is out there, waiting to face his first ball in international cricket \u2026 which may well be from Jofra Archer, his team-mate at the Rajasthan Royals. But it will be Abhishek Sharma who faces the first ball of the day.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Fun fact. Adil Rashid, England\u2019s senior pro, was playing international cricket before Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was conceived. Rashid made his debut for England\u2019s T20 team on 5 June 2009; Sooryavanshi was born on 27 March 2011.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>The teams<\/p>\n England have a debutant of their own \u2013 Josh Tongue, making his first appearance for them in a red shirt after doing taking dozens of wickets in a white one. Jofra Archer returns too. It\u2019s always good to see him and Tongue is well worth a go, but it\u2019s bizarre that there is no room for Saqib Mahmood. He shone in the gloom on Wednesday and would surely have relished the chance to maintain his red-hot form in front of his home crowd. The decision feels premeditated, rather than a response to the situation.<\/p>\n India 1 Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ishan Kishan (wkt), 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Harshit Rana, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Varun Chakravarthy.<\/p>\n England 1 Phil Salt, 2 Jos Buttler (wkt), 3 Harry Brook (capt), 4 Jacob Bethell, 5 Tom Banton, 6 Sam Curran, 7 Will Jacks, 8 Liam Dawson, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Jofra Archer, 11 Josh Tongue.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The first email comes in from Guy Hornsby. \u201cI know this may be down for some as another meaningless bilateral,\u201d he says, \u201cbut even before Sooryavanshi\u2019s debut was announced, this feels bigger than that.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo teams packed with stars, all the Test players back for England, and a raucous Old Trafford full of blue shirts all urging on their team to show England who is boss in the white ball game. I am certainly buzzing, and I\u2019ve only had an ice cream!\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Iyer\u2019s decision allows the crowd to see Vaibhav Sooryavanshi right away. His fearless hitting has already made him a superstar in the IPL: now we\u2019ll see if he can do it on a blustery Saturday in Manchester. He will become India\u2019s youngest-ever cricketer, beating the record held for decades by Sachin Tendulkar. He was born in 2011, for goodness\u2019 sake. You couldn\u2019t make him up.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Toss: India win and bat first<\/p>\n It\u2019s so windy at Old Trafford that Shreyas Iyer\u2019s cap blows off in mid-toss. But he doesn\u2019t lose his composure, calls right and decides to make England\u2019s bowlers cope with the gale.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Sooryavanshi starts!<\/p>\n They\u2019ve seen sense and selected him! At the tender age of 15. What a moment.<\/p>\n