Just when it looked like Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was coming into his element, he was dismissed for eight runs on his Duleep Trophy debut.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi encounters turbulence in red-ball cricket

Only 15, Sooryavanshi was named East Zone vice-captain for the 2026 Duleep Trophy. On the first day of the competition, he was dismissed off the sixth delivery he faced in the quarter-final against North East Zone. He looked promising on Duleep Trophy debut, but soon had to make the long walk back to the pavilion.

Sooryavanshi started off with a couple of dots in the second over of the innings, bowled by Bishworjit Konthoujam. He dispatched each of the next two balls for boundaries, a whip through mid-wicket, and a handsome square drive, and kept the next one out. Just when he seemed to gain confidence, he edged one to gully on the last ball of the over, for a six-ball eight.

Across 12 innings in first-class cricket until today, Sooryavansi hasn’t shown a lot of promise with an average of 17.25, including a solitary fifty. His vice-captaincy in the Duleep Trophy did raise a lot of eyebrows, as there were discussions about him being rushed into the mix. However, the first few steps in red-ball cricket have posed challenges for the youngster.

Sooryavanshi was only 12 when he made his Ranji Trophy debut, against Mumbai in 2024. He scored 19 and 12 in that match, and could only gather 20 runs in his next two Ranji Trophy outings against Andhra Pradesh and Chattisgarh. In November 2025, he scored a brisk 93 off 67 deliveries in the first innings against Meghalaya, his maiden first-class fifty.

However, having broken a plethora of records already in his career, he has scored 331 runs across 10 innings in Youth Tests at 33.10, including two hundreds and a fifty.

If the Ishan Kishan-led East Zone manage to win the quarter-final, they will be up against Central Zone, who have a superior bowling attack. Sooryavanshi will be up for a stern test.

Image credits: BCCI Domestic

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