‘We didn’t know what to do’: England bowlers rattled by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s batting, captain reveals team’s state

England captain Thomas Rew on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi: England suffered a 100-run defeat against India in the Under-19 World Cup 2026 final. English captain Thomas Rew attributed the entire credit to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. He said that when he was at the crease, his team did not understand where to bowl.

England captain Thomas Rew on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi: England suffered a 100-run defeat against India in the final of the Under-19 World Cup 2026 at the Harare Sports Club on Friday. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi single-handedly turned the match in India's favour with a blistering innings of 175 runs off just 80 balls, featuring 15 fours and 15 sixes. The English team appeared intimidated by him. English captain Thomas Rew, praising the 14-year-old opening batsman Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, stated that when he was at the crease, his team had no idea where to bowl.

‘We had no clue’

England captain Thomas Rew appeared quite dejected after losing the final. He said, "It's always tough when a player like that (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi) gets going. He's shown us before what he can do. Yeah, I think we were a little bit surprised. It was certainly tough and on a good pitch when he got going. We had no clue where to bowl."

‘We did our research’

Regarding England's plans, he said, "We did our research. We were just going to try and keep the guys in the ring and bowl as much as possible over the stumps, use our change-ups and that's what's worked for us against India before, but Vaibhav played well and credit to him."

‘Our batters tried really hard’

When asked if he expected more from the pitch after bowling, Rew replied, "A little bit. Just the thought that we knew how much we had to chase and that would help us keep our pace, but I thought our batters tried really hard. Caleb had an unbelievable innings and Dox got some runs as well. Yeah, it's a real testament to the mentality to go out there and try and chase it."

When asked what was discussed during the break, he said, "We were really excited. We could go out there and play our shots. Unfortunately, we couldn't get over the line, but we gave it a good go and yeah, we all fought really hard."