Teen Prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Falls Short of Century, East Zone Edge Ahead in Duleep Trophy Semi-Final

Bengaluru: Fifteen-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made history on Monday as the youngest player to score a half-century in Duleep Trophy history, smashing 92 off 81 balls for East Zone against Central Zone in the semi-final at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 1. His explosive knock, featuring seven sixes and seven fours, helped East Zone reach 266 in their first innings — exactly matching Central Zone's total. However, a dramatic late collapse left the match finely poised, with Central Zone at 45/3 at stumps on Day 2.

Sooryavanshi, who captained East Zone for much of the innings after regular skipper Ishan Kishan sustained an injury, reached his fifty in just 42 balls, breaking the 57-year-old record previously held by Laxman Singh, who scored a half-century at 16 years and 23 days in 1969. The Bihar batter also had a reprieve on 40 when Yash Rathod dropped a catch at backward point off Saransh Jain, but he continued to dominate the bowlers, including a six over mid-wicket off pacer Yash Thakur.

His dismissal, caught at deep mid-wicket off left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey while attempting a slog-sweep, came just eight runs short of a century. A hundred would have broken Sachin Tendulkar's record for the youngest Duleep Trophy centurion, set at 17 years and 262 days in the 1990/91 season, and would have made Sooryavanshi the second-youngest Indian to score a First-Class century.

Sooryavanshi's opening partnership with Abhimanyu Easwaran added 161 runs, with Easwaran contributing a patient 69 off 106 balls. However, after their stand was broken, East Zone suffered a spectacular collapse, losing 10 wickets for 105 runs, with the last five wickets falling for just 53 runs. Dubey finished with figures of 4/66, while pacers Yash Thakur (3/66) and Aryan Pandey (3/43) shared the remaining wickets. Pandey struck three times in 15 minutes after lunch, dismissing Easwaran, Virat Singh, and Sudip Kumar Gharami.

Central Zone's first innings had earlier been bowled out for 266, with Rinku Singh top-scoring with 60 off 88 balls. Aryan Juyal contributed 46, while captain Rajat Patidar was dismissed for 12. East Zone's bowlers, led by Abhijit Sarkar and Mukesh Kumar with three wickets each, and Mohammed Shami with two, restricted the defending champions.

In their second innings, Central Zone lost Kunal Chandela and Aryan Juyal early, with Mukesh Kumar dismissing Chandela and Shami accounting for Juyal. Mukesh then removed Patidar in the closing minutes of the day, leaving Central at 45/3. Aman Mokhade (23) and Aryan Pandey (4) were unbeaten at the crease, with Central holding a slender lead of 45 runs.