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Vaibhav Sooryavanshi once again showed why he is being seen as one of the most exciting young batters in Indian cricket. However, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi fell short of his maiden Duleep Trophy century during the first semifinal between East Zone and Central Zone.
The East Zone opener smashed 92 runs from just 81 balls, and his innings were full of confidence, clean hitting, and fearless shots. However, the left-hander missed the chance to reach the historic century while playing an aggressive shot in the Duleep Trophy semifinal.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi misses Duleep Trophy century by just 8 runs
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi came very close to creating history in the Duleep Trophy, but his dream of scoring his first hundred in the tournament ended at 92 on Monday, August 31.
The young batter played a brilliant attacking innings against Central Zone. He scored 92 runs from 81 balls, hitting seven fours and seven sixes, and looked set for a big century. Vaibhav and Abhimanyu Easwaran gave East Zone a perfect start by putting together a massive 162-run opening partnership.
Their strong batting put East Zone in a great position early in the innings. However, Harsh Dubey managed to get rid of Sooryavanshi on the second ball of the 26th over with Arshad Khan taking the brilliant catch.
The disappointment was clear on the young batter’s face, as he needed only eight more runs to reach the historic hundred in the Duleep Trophy. Amid this, "Both boards are very sincere" - Tamim Iqbal confirms India series is still on.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi misses Sachin Tendulkar’s long-standing Duleep Trophy record
Interestingly, this was already Vaibhav’s seventh 90s score in his career. After falling short of his century, the left-handed batter missed the chance to break legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s more than three-decade-long record in the competition.
If he had scored a century, he would have become the youngest player to score a hundred in Duleep Trophy history. Sooryavanshi missed the opportunity to break the long-standing record of Tendulkar, who scored a Duleep Trophy century during the 1990/91 season at the age of 17 years and 262 days.
Vaibhav breaks 57-year-old Duleep Trophy record
Yet, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi achieved a special milestone during East Zone’s semifinal against Central Zone at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 1 in Bengaluru. He became the youngest batter in Duleep Trophy history to score a half-century.
At just 15 years and 175 days, Sooryavanshi broke a record that had stayed untouched for 57 years and created a new Duleep Trophy record. Earlier, the record was held by Laxman Singh, who scored a Duleep Trophy fifty in 1969 at the age of 16 years and 23 days old.
Sooryavanshi has now shattered Laxman’s record and even surpassed Piyush Chawla as well. Chawla was the second-youngest batter to achieve the feat at the age of 16 years and 307 days.
Youngest To Hit Duleep Trophy Fifty:
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (2026*): 15 years 157 days
Laxman Singh (1969): 16 years 23 days
Piyush Chawla (2025): 16 years 307 days
Earlier in the match, Vaibhav briefly took over as East Zone captain when Ishan Kishan was off the field. East Zone then bowled Central Zone out for 266 runs. Mukesh Kumar and Abhijit Sarkar took three wickets each to help East Zone not allow Central Zone to reach the 300-run mark.
