Vaibhav Sooryavanshi once again showed his attacking game as the 15-year-old took on Mohammed Siraj in the Duleep Trophy final between East Zone and South Zone at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.
Siraj opened the bowling for South Zone, with Sooryavanshi and Abhimanyu Easwaran starting the East Zone innings. The first over went for just four runs, but Sooryavanshi soon began taking on the India pacer.
He first hit Siraj for a boundary in the third over before Easwaran also picked up a four. Siraj conceded nine runs from that over.
The big moment came in the seventh over. Sooryavanshi smashed Siraj for a four, followed it with a six over long-off and then finished the over with another boundary over mid-off. The three shots brought 14 runs from the over and pushed East Zone to 45/0 after seven overs.
Sooryavanshi continued to attack the South Zone bowlers and formed a century opening stand with Easwaran. The pair brought up 100 runs from 88 balls before the partnership finally ended.
Sooryavanshi was the first wicket to fall. Chama V Milind dismissed him in the 15th over when the batter went after a short-of-length delivery. The extra bounce took the edge and the ball looped towards mid-wicket, where Tanay Thyagarajan completed the catch.
Sooryavanshi walked back for 44 off 37 balls, with four fours and three sixes. His strike rate was 118.91. He missed out on another half-century but gave East Zone exactly the sort of fast start they wanted.
Easwaran then continued the innings and brought up his half-century from 46 balls. He was eventually dismissed for 72, leaving East Zone three down before lunch. At the interval, East Zone were 133/2, with South Zone looking to pull the game back after a difficult opening session.
East Zone vs South Zone, Duleep Trophy 2026 final: Toss update
East Zone captain Ishan Kishan won the toss and chose to bat.
East Zone vs South Zone, Duleep Trophy 2026 final: Playing XIs
East Zone XI: Ishan Kishan, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shikhar Mohan, Sudip Gharami, Kumar Kushagra, Anukul Roy, Kounain Qureshi, Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, Abhijit Sarkar.
South Zone XI: Tilak Varma, Ricky Bhui, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravichandran Smaran, Narayan Jagadeesan, Shreyas Gopal, Mohammed Siraj, MD Nidheesh, Tripurana Vijay, Chama Milind, Shaik Rasheed.