East Zone hand Sooryavanshi the vice-captaincy at 15, with Kishan in charge and Shami back
Ishan Kishan will lead East Zone in the Duleep Trophy with a 15-year-old as his deputy. Mohammed Shami and Mukesh Kumar are in the squad. Riyan Parag and Akash Deep are not, both still in rehab from injury.
Jul 29, 2026
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has been named vice-captain of East Zone for the Duleep Trophy, under Ishan Kishan. He is 15 years old and he averages 17.25 in first-class cricket.
Both of those things are true at the same time, which is what makes this squad worth a second look. India have spent 12 months watching him hit white balls a long way. The red-ball evidence is a much thinner file.
What the first-class record actually says
Sooryavanshi has played eight first-class matches. He has 207 runs from 12 innings at 17.25, with a best of 93. His most recent outing in the format came for Bihar against Meghalaya in a Plate group Ranji fixture last year, which is not the sort of preparation that usually precedes a zonal vice-captaincy.
He is expected to open with Abhimanyu Easwaran, who is the counterweight in every sense. Easwaran has 113 first-class matches behind him, more than anyone else in this squad, and he is its leading run-scorer. He also lost his place in the India A setup late last year and has a season to put that right.
Shikhar Mohan is the reserve opener. He top-scored for Jharkhand with 613 runs in his first Ranji season, which is a strong enough return that in most squads he would not be third in the queue.
Shami heads an all-Bengal attack
Mohammed Shami and Mukesh Kumar give East Zone two Test bowlers, and Shami arrives off 37 wickets in seven matches in the 2025-26 Ranji season. He will lead a pace group drawn entirely from Bengal, with Mukesh and Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal alongside him. Shahbaz Ahmed, also Bengal, is the spin-bowling allrounder.
Riyan Parag and Akash Deep were not considered. Parag is recovering from surgery on his right shoulder, which he had after IPL 2026, and Akash Deep from a back injury. Both are still in rehab.
A heavy Jharkhand presence
Kishan is expected to keep wicket, and the squad carries a second Jharkhand gloveman in Kumar Kushagra. Virat Singh, a top-order batter, and the spin-bowling allrounder Anukul Roy come from the same state. Roy played for India A during their tri-series win in Sri Lanka in June. Abhijit Sarkar is the lone Tripura representative in the 15-man squad.
The full squad: Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sudip Gharami, Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Suraj Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan (captain), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (vice-captain), Virat Singh, Kumar Kushagra, Shikhar Mohan, Subranshu Senapati, Abhijit Sarkar, Anukul Roy, Denish Das.
The Duleep Trophy opens India’s domestic season on 23 August, with six zonal teams. For Sooryavanshi it is the first proper look at a red-ball game that has been almost entirely out of sight since last season.