Teenager Vaibhav Sooryavanshi smashed the living daylights out of South Zone’s pacers on Day 1 of the Duleep Trophy final. Sooryavanshi, opening the innings for East Zone alongside Abhimanyu Easwaran, dominated the early exchanges, putting the fast bowlers to the sword.
Vaibhav was especially punishing against Mohammed Siraj, who recently returned from the Sri Lanka Test series. Vaibhav hammered Siraj for two fours and a six in the 7th over, putting the premier fast bowler under severe pressure.
Duleep Trophy Final Live: East Zone vs South Zone Day 1 Updates
Vaibhav’s first boundary of the over came via a deft touch through point, where he guided the ball past the fielder for a four. The teenager was merciless with his next hit, smashing Siraj for a six straight past him off the very next ball. After putting Siraj under pressure in the first three balls, Vaibhav capped the over with another lofted hit over mid-off to take 14 runs off the pacer.
Vaibhav played one of his most composed innings in the Duleep Trophy final on Day 1, respecting the majority of the balls in the first few overs. The batter started to cut loose once he realised that the pitch did not have a lot of help for the fast bowlers.
Vaibhav’s measured onslaught saw him race to 40 runs in the first hour of play. The attack spooked South Zone captain Tilak Varma, who put five boundary riders in the 8th over of the match itself.
Vaibhav’s attack gave confidence to his partner Abhimanyu Easwaran as well, who pulled Siraj for back-to-back fours in the 9th over of the match.
In his first spell, Siraj gave away 41 runs from five overs.
Vaibhav looked set for a fifty in the first innings of the final, but lost his wicket to CV Milind. The left-arm fast bowler targeted Vaibhav with the short ball, and the batter ended up skying his pull shot to deep, where substitute fielder Thyagarajan safely grabbed the catch.
But by that time, East Zone had already set up their charge against their opponents in Chennai.
SHOULD VAIBHAV BE FASTRACKED TO TEST CRICKET?
Sooryavanshi and Abhimanyu Easwaran added 100 runs for the first wicket on a pitch that was expected to have some help for the pacers in the first hour. The partnership rattled South Zone, who put in defensive fields for nearly all of the morning session on Day 1.
Vaibhav has continually shown promise for the red-ball format. In his 10 first class games, the young left hander has scored 347 runs at a strike-rate of 23. While the figures are modest, it needs to be noted that he only debuted in first class in 2024, while still playing Youth Test matches around the world.
Former India head coach Rahul Dravid had recently hoped that Vaibhav will transition soon to the Test side, stating that it would make the format really exciting.
Meanwhile, Abhimanyu Easwaran continued to bat well after the dismissal of Sooryavanshi and scored 72 runs before getting dismissed via a run-out. At the end of the first session, East Zone scored 133 runs for the loss of two wickets in 27 overs.
– Ends
