Vaibhav Sooryavanshi proves red-ball prowess, breaks 57-year-old Duleep Trophy record

Young batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi underlined his red-ball credentials by becoming the youngest batter to score a fifty in the Duleep Trophy.

The 15-year-old smashed a blazing 92 on the second day of the Duleep Trophy semifinal on Monday, surpassing Laxman Singh, who achieved the feat as a 16-year-old in 1969.

Sooryavanshi’s 92 came off 81 balls in 118 minutes, an innings that was anything but sedate.

Playing for East Zone against Central Zone, Sooryavanshi came out all guns blazing as his side matched Central’s first-innings total of 266. Left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey (4/66) and pacers Yash Thakur (3/66) and Aryan Pandey (3/43) shared all 10 wickets to bowl East out for 266.

Central, however, were reduced to 45/3 at stumps, leaving the semifinal poised for a second-innings shootout.

But the day belonged to Sooryavanshi. The Bihar teenager attacked from the outset while also showing the temperament to weather difficult moments.

He was handed a reprieve on 40 when Yash Rathod dropped a sitter at backward point off Saransh Jain. Before and after that let-off, however, Sooryavanshi produced a series of breathtaking strokes.

He began the day in emphatic fashion, launching Yash Thakur over mid-wicket for a massive six. He followed it up by cracking the pacer for four boundaries in the same spell, repeatedly putting pressure on the Central attack.

Sooryavanshi also took several other bowlers to the cleaners, displaying the range of strokeplay that has made him one of Indian cricket’s most talked-about young batters.
His spectacular innings finally ended when an ambitious slog-sweep against Dubey found Arshad Khan at deep mid-wicket.

Sooryavanshi walked back knowing he had missed a golden opportunity to complete a century, but his innings had already left its mark on the semifinal.