NEW DELHI: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has barely had time to absorb one milestone before another arrives.At 15, the teenage sensation has already played on the biggest domestic stage, broken records in the IPL, made his international debut, starred at the Under-19 World Cup and established himself across T20, List A and first-class cricket. On Sunday, he will add another landmark to an extraordinary early career — playing his first five-day first-class match.Sooryavanshi will take the field for East Zone against South Zone in the Duleep Trophy final at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, with the 15-year-old named vice-captain under Ishan Kishan.It is another challenge in a career that has been defined by the teenager repeatedly stepping into unfamiliar territory and finding a way to make an impact.For all his first-class experience, Sooryavanshi has so far played only four-day matches, whether for Bihar in the Ranji Trophy, India Under-19 or East Zone. The Duleep Trophy final will therefore represent his first experience of a five-day representative first-class fixture.And East Zone will expect him to play a significant role at the top of the order.
Another format, another test for Sooryavanshi
The youngster’s ability to adapt has already been tested repeatedly this year.His first-class numbers remain modest compared to the astonishing figures he has produced in white-ball cricket — 347 runs from 10 matches, including two half-centuries. But his Duleep Trophy semifinal performance against Central Zone offered an encouraging glimpse of what he can produce in a longer format.Sooryavanshi smashed 92 off 81 balls in the first innings before contributing a crucial 40 in the chase as East Zone defeated Central Zone by four wickets to reach their first Duleep Trophy final since 2012-13.His 92 also made him the youngest player to score a half-century in Duleep Trophy history, at 15 years and 157 days, breaking a record that had stood for 57 years.Ishan Kishan, who will lead East Zone in the final, believes the teenager is already mature enough to handle the demands of another new challenge.“I feel Vaibhav is very smart for a 15-year-old boy. He knows what he is doing, he has been in this situation and I have heard him speaking to other players as well. So, there is no doubt if he has played 4 day or 3 day cricket earlier and this is a 5-day game, I think you just need to get runs out of him and that is what he is willing to do,” Kishan said in the pre-match press briefing on Saturday.Kishan was also impressed by the youngster’s contribution in the semifinal.“I think he is doing a great job until now. He played a very crucial role in the previous match where the wicket was not that good but he played those extra shots which helped us get that opening partnership.”“It was very important while we were chasing. So he is doing everything right for now and if there is anything, I think we are there to always help him,” he added.
From 14-year-old IPL centurion to India’s youngest international
The scale of Sooryavanshi’s rise becomes clearer when his journey over the past two seasons is considered.At 13, he became the youngest player to earn an IPL contract when Rajasthan Royals bought him for Rs 1.1 crore ahead of IPL 2025. A year later, at 14, he became the youngest centurion in men’s T20 cricket when he smashed 101 off 38 balls against Gujarat Titans. He finished that season with 252 runs from seven matches at a strike rate of 206.55.Then came IPL 2026, when the teenager took his game to another level.Sooryavanshi scored 776 runs in 16 matches at a staggering strike rate of 237.30, with a century and five fifties. His 72 sixes broke the record for most sixes in a single IPL season, while he collected the Orange Cap and MVP award.He subsequently became India’s youngest men’s international debutant and made an immediate impact in the T20I series against Zimbabwe, scoring 151 runs in three matches and winning the Player of the Series award. His six T20I appearances have already yielded 193 runs at a strike rate of 189.21.His List A numbers are equally striking: 564 runs in 13 matches, including a 190, at an average of 43.38 and a strike rate of 176.80.At the Under-19 World Cup, meanwhile, he amassed 439 runs and was named Player of the Tournament.
Now comes the five-day test: Duleep Trophy final
The numbers suggest there is still plenty for Sooryavanshi to learn in the red-ball game. But that is precisely what makes Sunday’s milestone significant. At an age when most cricketers are still finding their way through age-group cricket, he is already being asked to solve a new problem.Sooryavanshi has so far responded to almost every challenge with the same fearless approach that has made him one of the most talked-about young cricketers in the world.The Duleep Trophy final offers another test — not of how many records he can break, but of how he can adapt when the game demands patience, concentration and a willingness to bat for five days.At 15, there is no urgency for him to have all the answers.But another question is about to be asked of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. And, judging by what he has done so far, another challenge is unlikely to intimidate him.
