Vaibhav Sooryavanshi added another extraordinary age record to his rapidly growing collection on Monday, becoming the youngest player to score a half-century in Duleep Trophy history during East Zone’s semifinal against Central Zone in Bengaluru.
The 15-year-old reached the landmark in just 42 balls while opening the batting with Abhimanyu Easwaran. Born on March 27, 2011, Sooryavanshi was 15 years and 157 days old when he completed his fifty, comfortably eclipsing a record that had stood for nearly six decades.
Laxman Singh had previously been the youngest half-centurion in the competition, scoring 63 for Central Zone against North Zone in the 1968-69 season at the age of 16 years and 23 days.
Sooryavanshi takes attack to Central Zone
Sooryavanshi began aggressively after the East Zone bowled the Central Zone out for 266. He struck two boundaries in the opening over and quickly moved to 21 from 14 deliveries before reaching 31 from 21 balls.
The teenager was on 40 from 28 deliveries after 12 overs but was handed a significant reprieve when a top edge was dropped. Sooryavanshi had even begun walking towards the pavilion before realising the catch had not been completed.
He made the most of the opportunity and completed his maiden Duleep Trophy fifty from 42 balls.
The innings is particularly significant given Sooryavanshi’s relatively modest first-class record before the semifinal. He had scored 215 runs from 13 innings at an average of 16.53, with his previous first-class best coming in a 93 for Bihar against Meghalaya.
This is Sooryavanshi’s second first-class half-century and his first in the Duleep Trophy, adding a major red-ball milestone to a career already filled with age-related records across formats.
Sooryavanshi did not stop after reaching the landmark and continued to attack the Central Zone bowlers, moving rapidly towards what would have been his maiden first-class century.
However, the 15-year-old fell agonisingly short of three figures, dismissed for 92. The knock nevertheless became his highest score in the Duleep Trophy and fell just one run short of his first-class best of 93, which he had made for Bihar against Meghalaya.
He was visibly disappointed after the dismissal, slamming the bat while going back. The young batter tried to take on Harsh Dubey and clear the leg side field as he holed out at deep mid-wicket. The fall of Sooryavanshi's wicket shocked RP Singh, too, who was present in the stands watching the masterclass. Besides RP Singh, Ajay Ratra and SS Das were also keeping an eye on the game.
His 92 also underlined the significance of the innings in a format where he had yet to reproduce the extraordinary numbers and records that have already defined his white-ball career. Also, besides his normal flair, there were periods of Sooryavanshi defending, playing along the ground and rotating the strike. The signs he showed would be encouraging for the selectors and his followers, as it seems that the young man is quickly coming to terms with how to approach an innings in red-ball cricket.