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Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made headlines on Sunday (August 30) when the 15-year-old became the East Zone captain during the Duleep Trophy semi-final against Central Zone in Bengaluru.
The youngster did not start the match as captain. Actually, Ishan Kishan was leading the East Zone, but an injury to the regular skipper made way for the teenage sensation to take charge. Also Read: 'Unhappy' BCCI may remove Vaibhav Sooryavanshi & others from Asian Games squad
Ishan Kishan forced off after wrist injury
During the 19th over of Central Zone's innings, Ishan Kishan was forced to leave the field after getting injured. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi then took charge of the team and started handling the captaincy duties during the Duleep Trophy semi-final against Central Zone in Bengaluru.
Kishan was hit on his right wrist by a ball while keeping wickets. The physios attended to him, but he had to leave the field for further medical checks. He was later seen with his hand strapped while his Jharkhand teammate Kumar Kushagra took over the wicket-keeping duties.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi takes charge as East Zone captain in Duleep Trophy
With Kishan off the field, the 15-year-old batting sensation took over as East Zone captain. This is the first time Sooryavanshi has led a senior men's team.
The moment is even more special because Sooryavanshi is playing only his second Duleep Trophy match and his 10th First-Class game. Amid this, Amol Muzumdar addresses ‘no-handshake’ stance ahead of Pakistan clash.
He made his First-Class debut in the Ranji Trophy in early 2024, becoming one of the youngest players ever to play in the format. Vaibhav probably couldn’t believe that players like Mohammad Shami and Mukesh Kumar were going to play under his captaincy.
Selectors backed Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for future
Earlier, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's selection as East Zone vice-captain earlier this month had created a lot of buzz on social media, but the selectors backed the move. They wanted to give the 15-year-old leadership experience with an eye on his future.
“We are not thinking about the present alone,” Manish Vardhan, the Jharkhand selector on the East Zone selection committee, had said as quoted by Cricinfo. Now, after taking over as captain during the semi-final, Sooryavanshi has got another major chance to show his leadership skills.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has had mixed outing in his last five matches. His most recent innings came in the Duleep Trophy against North East Zone, where he scored only 8 runs.
Before that, he played for India in the T20I series against Zimbabwe and England. His best score in these five matches came against Zimbabwe, where he smashed 50 runs from just 19 balls.
His last five scores are:
August 23, 2026 – Duleep Trophy vs North East Zone: 8
July 23, 2026 – India T20I vs Zimbabwe: 50 (19)
July 9, 2026 – India T20I vs England: 15 (10)
July 7, 2026 – India T20I vs England: 13 (5)
July 4, 2026 – India T20I vs England: 14 (10)
East Zone Playing XI: Abhimanyu Easwaran, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Kumar Kushagra, Sudip Kumar Gharami, Ishan Kishan (wk/c), Virat Singh, Md Kounain Quraishi, Anukul Roy, Abhijit K Sarkar, Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar
Central Zone Playing XI: Aman Mokhade, Aryan Juyal (wk), Kunal Chandela, Yash Rathod, Rajat Patidar (c), Rinku Singh, Saransh Jain, Harsh Dubey, Arshad Khan, Yash Thakur, Aryan Pandey
