Youngest captain in first-class cricket: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi acts as stand-in skipper in Duleep Trophy semi-final as Ishan Kishan suffers injury originally appeared on Cricket News.
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KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, just 15, took over East Zone’s captaincy mid-match after Ishan Kishan left the field with a finger injury.
- This marked Sooryavanshi’s first taste of leadership, coming after he’d already served as vice-captain for Bihar and India U-19.
- The youngster struggled with the bat this Duleep Trophy but chipped in with two wickets as East Zone romped to victory.
Youngest captain in first-class cricket: 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi leads East Zone as Ishan Kishan suffers injury
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi suddenly found himself leading East Zone in their Duleep Trophy semi-final against Central Zone at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
According to reports from the ground, he could barely contain his delight once the armband landed on him.
Ishan Kishan, who was standing up to the stumps during the 19th over as Abhijit Sarkar bowled, took a nasty blow on his left hand and had no choice but to leave the field for treatment. Team physios worked on the Jharkhand gloveman before he was forced off entirely, and Kumar Kushagra stepped in behind the stumps.
That left Sooryavanshi, already the side’s vice-captain, to take charge, and by all accounts, he couldn’t quite believe he’d suddenly be calling the shots for bowlers like Mohammad Shami and Mukesh Kumar.
Sooryavanshi had already worn the vice-captain’s tag for Bihar in last season’s Ranji Trophy, and earlier this year he held the same role for the India Under-19 side that lifted the World Cup.
WATCH: Sooryavanshi all smiles after being asked to lead East Zone
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi got his first taste of captaincy as stand-in captain after Ishan Kishan had to leave the field due to an injury in the ongoing Duleep Trophy semi-final between East Zone and Central Zone.#DuleepTrophy | 📸: JioHotstar pic.twitter.com/tTLFanYY6H
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A captaincy call for Sooryavanshi that says more about potential than performance
To hand a 15-year-old the reins of a first-class side, even for a brief period, isn’t a decision anyone takes lightly, and it shouldn’t be read as some reckless gimmick.
Sooryavanshi’s numbers this tournament haven’t been flattering, sure, but selectors clearly aren’t just looking at the scoreboard. They’re backing temperament, composure and a cricketing brain that’s already been tested on the biggest U-19 stage there is.
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Leading senior pros like Shami mid-match, even briefly, throws a kid into deep water fast, but that’s often exactly how you find out what someone’s really made of. Whether this turns into a longer leadership story for Sooryavanshi remains to be seen, but Sunday’s moment, injury-forced as it was, might end up mattering a lot more than the scorecard suggests.
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