Teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi etched his name into the record books on Monday, becoming the youngest player to score a half-century in Duleep Trophy history at just 15 years and 157 days.
Playing for East Zone in the semifinal against Central Zone at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 1 in Bengaluru, the attacking opener reached his fifty off just 42 balls, smashing a six off off-spinner Saransh Jain to bring up the milestone.
The record had stood for 57 years, previously held by Laxman Singh, who scored a fifty at 16 years and 23 days in the 1969 edition. Piyush Chawla had also registered a Duleep Trophy half-century at 16 years and 307 days in 2005.
Sooryavanshi, however, fell agonisingly short of breaking another record. Had he converted his knock into a century, he would have shattered legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s 36-year-old record of being the youngest Duleep Trophy centurion. Tendulkar had scored a century in the 1990/91 season at 17 years and 262 days. Sooryavanshi was dismissed for 92 off 81 balls, just eight runs short of what would have been a historic ton.
If he had reached three figures, he would also have become the second-youngest Indian ever to score a First-Class century. The record remains with Punjab’s Dhruv Pandove, who achieved the feat at 14 years and 293 days against Jammu & Kashmir in the 1988-89 Ranji Trophy season.