Industry Odisha Bureau, Aug 31: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi came close to a maiden Duleep Trophy on Monday but was dismissed for 92 against Central Zone in the semifinal in Bengaluru. The 15-year-old, however, made history by becoming the youngest player to score a fifty in Duleep Trophy history.
Sooryavanshi reached his half century in just 42 balls. At 15 years and 157 days, he broke Laxman Singh’s 57 year old record. Singh had scored a fifty at the age of 16 years and 23 days in the 1969 edition. Piyush Chawla had earlier held the second youngest record after reaching his fifty at 16 years and 307 days in 2005.
The left-hander was aggressive from the start and took advantage of several loose deliveries. He was also dropped on 40, allowing him to continue his impressive innings.
Sooryavanchi added 162 runs for the opening wicket with Abhimanyu Easwaran. He moved into the 90s after hitting Saransh Jain for a four and a six. However, his innings ended at 92 off 81 balls when Harsh Dubey dismissed him in the 26th over.
A century would have also made Vaibhav Sooryavanshi the youngest Duleep Trophy centurion. That record still belongs to Sachin Tendulkar, who scored a century at 17 years and 262 days in the 1990-91 season.
This was Sooryavanshi’s second first-class fifty. He had earlier scored a 33 ball half century against Meghalaya in the Ranji Trophy.
