Lucknow Super Giants owner Sanjiv Goenka has showered praise on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi ahead of the T20I series against Afghanistan. Goenka admitted he regrets not being able to sign Sooryavanshi in the IPL 2025 mega auction.

The LSG owner said Rajasthan Royals’ owner Lakshmi Mittal will never release Sooryavanshi from his squad in the IPL. The inaugural champions were able to rope in the youngster for INR 1.10 crore. Delhi Capitals was the other team that had made a bid for Sooryavanshi in the mega auction.

Sanjiv Goenka said on Shubhankar Mishra’s YouTube Channel, “Every team owner has or will have the regret that Vaibhav Suryavanshi is not in their team. Lakshmi Mittal owns Rajasthan Royals now. He will never let him leave his whole life.”

Goenka said Sooryavanshi has all the confidence under his belt and he is a big-match player.

“The confidence. Talent and shots are obviously there, but there is supreme confidence, not overconfidence. He is a big match player,” he added.

Sooryavanshi has shown all the skills to go a long way in his career. The left-hander recently scored 776 runs in 16 matches of IPL 2026 and was awarded MVP of the tournament. After not being able to grab his chance against England, Sooryavanshi scored 151 runs in three matches against Zimbabwe.

On the other hand, Afghanistan T20I captain Ibrahim Zadran said they have their plans in place for Sooryavanshi.

Zadran said in the pre-match press conference, “He is an amazing talent. He performed really well in the IPL, and he has been performing across different levels of competitions. We talked about him, and we have that knowledge from the guys who played against him in the IPL. We have watched his videos. We will try to keep it simple for ourselves and will look to execute our plans.”

The first T20I between India and Afghanistan will be played on Sunday.