India's teen prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has already made his mark in the world of white-ball cricket, having earned accolades in the Indian Premier League before joining the India setup and securing a Player of the Series award in just his second international series.
With the player all set to turn up for East Zone in the upcoming Duleep Trophy, one of India's premier domestic red-ball competitions, former India head coach Rahul Dravid believes that a successful turn to the longer format for the 15-year-old could be help Test cricket grow.
"I think you always have to find that balance. And I think it's a great thing that Vaibhav is getting the experience of playing some white-ball cricket through the IPL in India," Dravid told Cricinfo in an interview at an event in Dublin. "But he's also having the time to go back and play red-ball cricket in the Indian domestic system and grow his red-ball career."
"All of us also want to see Test cricket survive, all of us want to see Test cricket grow, and we need players like him to be able to hopefully play all formats of the game."
Sooryavanshi made his foray into the professional cricket in 2024, but 2026 has proven to be a breakthrough year for him. He starred in the successful ICC Under-19 Men's Cricket World Cup campaign for India Under-19, scoring a magnificent 175 in the final to secure India's title.
He stepped up in the IPL as well, being the leading run-getter with 776 runs in the season for Rajasthan Royals. This was followed by an electric 94 off 29 against Sri Lanka 'A' in a List-A tri-series final in Colombo.
The batter made his international debut against England in July, but stood out in the following tour of Zimbabwe, where he led the run-scoring charts with 151 runs and won the Player of the Series award.
However, red-ball cricket where he's appeared sporadically over eight first-class games and averages 17.25, remains an area where he can learn from experience and improve.
Dravid believed that the expectations around Sooryavanshi needed to be tempered, as the player still had time to grow.
"He's not played as much red-ball cricket as probably white-ball cricket. He's only 15 and I think you've got to just give him some time and you've got to be patient with him.
"He's obviously been such a success straightaway, right, but he's going to go through his ups and downs and I think people are going to have to be patient with him."
A successful transformation for Sooryavanshi in the Test format could be big for the game's future, in Dravid's opinion.
"Hopefully someday if he does well and performs well like he has in white-ball cricket, he might become a red-ball player for India. And how exciting that would be for the world game as well."