Vaibhav Sooryavanshi fell agonizingly eight runs short of a maiden Duleep Trophy century on Monday, but not before the 15-year-old shattered a record that had stood for 57 years.
Playing for East Zone in the semifinal against Central Zone at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 1 in Bengaluru, Sooryavanshi became the youngest player to score a fifty in Duleep Trophy history. He reached the milestone in just 42 balls, sealing it with a six off Saransh Jain at 15 years and 157 days old.
Having been dropped on 40, Sooryavanshi made the Central Zone bowlers toil as he smashed boundaries all around the park. Batting on 81, he clobbered Saransh Jain, who made his India Test debut against Sri Lanka last week, for a four and a six to enter the nineties.
However, his dreams of a maiden Duleep Trophy hundred came crashing down when he was caught by Arshad Khan on the second ball of the 26th over off Harsh Dubey, ending a fine knock of 92 off 81 balls. Alongside Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sooryavanshi stitched together a 162-run opening stand, providing East Zone with the perfect platform to build on. Remarkably, this marked his seventh score in the 90s in his career, alongside 11 centuries.
The previous record belonged to Laxman Singh, who was 16 years and 23 days old when he scored a fifty in the 1969 edition. Piyush Chawla later became the second-youngest, reaching his half-century at 16 years and 307 days in 2005.
Sooryavanshi had another piece of history within his grasp. A century would have made him the youngest Duleep Trophy centurion, breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s 36-year-old record set during the 1990/91 season at the age of 17 years and 262 days.
Earlier in the match, Sooryavanshi stood in as captain for Ishan Kishan for a few overs as East Zone dismissed Central Zone for 266 on the opening day. India fast bowler Mukesh Kumar and fellow right-arm medium pacer Abhijit Sarkar scalped three wickets apiece to bowl out Central Zone in 80.1 overs.
The left-hander showed plenty of composure throughout his innings. Coming into the semifinal after managing only eight runs on his Duleep Trophy debut, he set the tempo alongside Easwaran to lay the foundation for East Zone’s dominance.
While he remained aggressive whenever the bowlers gave him an opening—taking on Aryan Pandey, Yash Thakur, Arshad Khan, Saransh Jain, and Harsh Dubey-he also demonstrated a willingness to spend time at the crease that was absent in his debut.
This fifty was Sooryavanshi’s second in first-class cricket. His other half-century came in the previous Ranji Trophy season against Meghalaya, when he reached the 50-run mark in just 33 balls.
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