CHESTER-LE-STREET, England (AP) — The first T20 of a five-match series between England and India was abandoned Wednesday before the hosts got a chance to reply to a score of 189-7 by the Indians at Chester-le-Street.

With 15-year-old prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi left out once again, India had half-centuries from captain Shreyas Iyer (68) and opener Abhishek Sharma (59) after winning the toss and choosing to bat first.

A 21-ball 42 by allrounder Shivam Dube, featuring three sixes and two fours, took the tourists close to 200, while England seamer Saqib Mahmood took 3-33 including the wicket of opener Sanju Samson for 1.

When Ishan Kishan (0) was run out, India slumped to 6-2 but recovered well.

India’s innings finished with rain pouring down in Durham and it failed to clear up, with play abandoned about 8.15 p.m. local time.

The second T20 is in Manchester on Saturday.

Coming off a shocking 2-0 series loss to Ireland, India resisted the temptation to bring in Sooryavanshi for his senior international debut.

He was picked in the squad for the tour of Ireland and England after scoring 776 runs in 16 innings in the 2026 Indian Premier League and being voted as the competition’s MVP. He hasn’t been able to dislodge Samson and Sharma at the top of the order, however.

If he makes his debut later in the series, Sooryavanshi — who is aged 15 years and 96 days — will become the youngest player to feature in a top-tier men’s T20. Ireland’s Joshua Little holds the record — he was 16 years and 309 days in his debut in the format.

Sooryavanshi would become the youngest-ever player in India’s senior men’s team. The great Sachin Tendulkar was 16 years and 205 days when he made his test debut in 1989, then made his ODI debut 33 days later.

The youngest-ever player in men’s international cricket remains Hasan Raza, who was 14 years and 227 days when he made his test debut for Pakistan in 1996.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket