Mohammad Amir has now called Vaibhav Sooryawanshi a “blind slogger,” extending the same label he used against Abhishek Sharma during the T20 World Cup earlier this year. The former Pakistan fast bowler said Sooryawanshi’s technique is better than Abhishek’s but added that the 15-year-old is “not a complete batsman.”
“Vaibhav Sooryawanshi is also a blind slogger but his technique is something better than Abhishek Sharma but he is not a complete batsman. When I said Abhishek is nothing just a slogger then…”
Mohammad Amir, July 2026
The statement is significant because Amir is no longer singling out one Indian batsman. He is now grouping two of India’s most exciting young left-handed openers under the same criticism, while making a distinction between their levels.
Amir first used the word “slogger” for Abhishek Sharma in February 2026, during the T20 World Cup group stage. Abhishek had been dismissed for three consecutive ducks against the USA, Pakistan, and the Netherlands. Speaking on the Pakistani show Haarna Mana Hai, Amir questioned Abhishek’s technique and said he attacks every ball without reading the situation.
“By whatever little I have seen, if you ask me honestly, I feel he is just a slogger. He has to go hard at every ball. The day he gets going, it’s fine; otherwise, uske failure ke chances zyaada hain. He scores once in 8 innings. Otherwise, his scores are 10, 15, 0, and 20. I don’t think he is technically sound.”
Mohammad Amir, Haarna Mana Hai, February 2026
Translation: “The chances of his failure are high.”
At the time, Amir’s words looked accurate. Abhishek was struggling badly. But what followed told a different story. Abhishek hit a 30-ball 55 against Zimbabwe in the Super 8s, scored the fastest fifty in the T20 World Cup final with a 21-ball 52 against New Zealand, and India won the title. In the England T20I series that followed, he finished as the top run-getter with 279 runs at a strike rate of 219.69. He also smashed the fastest T20I fifty by an Indian during that series.
Sooryawanshi, meanwhile, has had a different trajectory. He topped the IPL 2026 run charts with 776 runs at a strike rate of 237.30. He made his India T20I debut against England in July, becoming the youngest Indian international cricketer at 15 years and 99 days. But his international numbers tell a more complicated story. He managed only 42 runs in three innings against England before being dropped, and while he hit an 18-ball fifty against Zimbabwe in the first T20I, he was dismissed to a short ball in the second T20I by Richard Ngarava.
Where Amir’s Assessment Falls Apart
The numbers reveal a clear pattern with Sooryawanshi, but it is not the one Amir describes. In the IPL, when playing the pull or hook shot against pace, Sooryawanshi has scored 199 runs off 59 deliveries at a strike rate of 337.28. His false shot percentage on those deliveries is 20.3 percent. In T20Is, against the same type of delivery, he has managed just 23 runs from 14 balls and been dismissed three times. His false shot percentage jumps to 52.9 percent.
That gap is not about slogging. That is about adjusting to pace and bounce at a higher level. Every young batsman who moves from domestic cricket to international cricket faces this. The pitches are different. The bowlers are faster, more disciplined, and they do their homework. Sooryawanshi is 15. That adjustment is expected.
Abhishek faced the same adjustment during the World Cup group stage. Three ducks in a row made it look like Amir had read him perfectly. But once Abhishek settled, he showed he could play match-winning innings under pressure. His 45 T20I matches have produced 1,386 runs at a strike rate of 188.77, with 9 fifties and 2 centuries.
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There is a difference between a batsman who pre-meditates his shots and one who reads the ball early but commits hard to his stroke. A bowler watching from the other end sees both and often confuses the two because the result looks the same on TV. A big swing, a ball clearing the rope, a batsman walking across his stumps. From the outside, it all looks like slogging.
But a professional cricketer who has faced thousands of deliveries knows the difference. Pre-meditated slogging means the batsman has decided what shot he is playing before the ball is released. He is not watching the length, the line, or the seam position. He is just swinging. That batsman gets found out quickly because bowlers can see he is not reacting to the ball.
Aggressive batting with early ball reading is something else entirely. The batsman picks up the length within the first few metres of the delivery, commits fully to his shot, and backs his hand-eye coordination to make contact. The intent looks the same. The process is completely different. Sooryawanshi and Abhishek both fall into the second category. Their high strike rates in domestic cricket are not built on luck or muscle. They are built on exceptional hand-eye coordination and early pickup.
What Amir is identifying, the vulnerability against pace and bounce at international level, is real. But calling it “blind slogging” misreads what is actually happening. These batsmen are not closing their eyes and swinging. They are reading the ball, committing early, and sometimes getting beaten by the extra pace and bounce that international cricket offers. That is an adjustment problem, not a technique flaw. And at 15, Sooryawanshi has more time to make that adjustment than almost anyone in the history of the game.
Ravichandran Ashwin made a similar point when Amir first called Abhishek a slogger during the World Cup. Speaking on his YouTube channel Ash Ki Baat, Ashwin defended the opener’s batting and pointed to something specific.
“You can say anything about his game, but he is not a slogger. He has one of the most enviable bat swings in the game today.”
Ravichandran Ashwin, Ash Ki Baat YouTube channel, February 2026
Ashwin compared Abhishek’s bat swing to that of his mentor Yuvraj Singh, arguing that the technique behind the power was being ignored because of the results during a bad patch. Vikrant Gupta has also pointed out specific areas where Abhishek needs to improve, but framed them as areas for development rather than fundamental flaws.
Amir’s assessment comes from a bowler’s perspective, and bowlers naturally focus on how to get a batsman out. From that lens, both Sooryawanshi and Abhishek have identifiable weaknesses. But labelling two of India’s most dynamic young batsmen as “blind sloggers” ignores the evidence of what they have already achieved and reduces a complex technical discussion to a single dismissive word.
Vaibhav Suryawanshi and Abhishek Sharma both are blind slogger – Mohammad Amir
Amir 🗣️ : Vaibhav Suryawanshi is also a blind slogger but his technique is something better than Abhishek Sharma but he is not a complete batsman. When i said Abhishek is nothing just a slogger then… pic.twitter.com/xJVt1ismGI
— Achyut Mishra (@PulledFor_Six) July 26, 2026
Amir made these remarks in a video that surfaced on social media on July 26. No official response from either Suryawanshi or Abhishek Sharma has been made at time of publication.
Sources:
- [Haarna Mana Hai, February 2026] WION
- [Sooryawanshi IPL vs T20I pull shot stats, July 25, 2026]” Outlook India
- Amir, X/@PulledFor_Six, July 26, 2026
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