Vaibhav Sooryavanshi narrowly missed out on achieving his first-class century, scoring 92 runs before being dismissed. This performance occurred during the Duleep Trophy semifinal match between East Zone and Central Zone, held at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground in Bengaluru on Monday. Sooryavanshi’s innings highlighted his potential as a rising star in the sport.
At 15 years and 175 days, Sooryavanshi had the opportunity to become the second-youngest Indian to score a First-Class century. He became the youngest player to score a half-century in Duleep Trophy history, reaching the milestone in just 42 balls. Sooryavanshi broke the previous record held by Laxman Singh, who had scored a Duleep Trophy fifty in 1969 at the age of 16 years and 23 days. Former India leg-spinner Piyush Chawla is third on the list, having achieved the feat at 16 years and 307 days. Tendulkar scored his maiden First-Class century at 15 years and 230 days in a Ranji Trophy match in 1988. Dhruv Pandove remains the youngest Indian to score a First-Class century, having achieved the feat at 14 years and 293 days in 1988. Despite falling agonisingly short of three figures, Sooryavanshi’s 92 once again underlined his ability to score at a rapid pace in First-Class cricket.
However, his impressive knock came to an end eight runs short of the landmark. Sooryavanshi did create history with his innings While the century eluded him. The missed century also meant Sooryavanshi could not move ahead of Sachin Tendulkar on the list of India’s youngest first-class centurions. His dismissal may have denied him a historic century, but the teenager still walked away with a Duleep Trophy record to his name.
