Sooryavanshi broke a 57-year-old Duleep Trophy record, and both first innings finished on 266
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s 92 made him the youngest player to score a Duleep Trophy fifty, and East Zone still could not get past Central Zone’s total. Tilak Varma’s unbeaten hundred put South Zone 90 ahead in the other semi-final.
Aug 31, 2026
East Zone’s reply at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 1 in Bengaluru began with a 15-year-old hitting seven sixes and ended with the scoreboard reading exactly what Central Zone had managed a day earlier. Both first innings in the Duleep Trophy semi-final closed on 266.
Sooryavanshi got to fifty in 42 balls
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made 92 from 81 deliveries on Monday, with seven fours and seven sixes, and he reached his half-century inside seven overs of batting time. At 15 years and 157 days he is now the youngest player to score a fifty in the Duleep Trophy, a record that had stood to Laxman Singh since 1969. Singh was 16 years and 23 days old when he made his.
The opening stand with Abhimanyu Easwaran was worth 161 and it took just over 25 overs. Easwaran was the calmer half of it, 69 from 106 balls with eight fours, and he was still there when Sooryavanshi holed out off Harsh Dubey. Kumar Kushagra went the very next ball, caught for nought, and East Zone had lost two wickets on the same score.
East Zone lost eight for 105 after that
From 161 without loss, East Zone were bowled out inside 57 overs. Dubey finished with four wickets for 66 and did most of the damage in the middle order. Aryan Pandey took three, Yash Thakur three more, and Sudip Kumar Gharami’s 25 was the best anyone below the openers could manage. The tail could not manufacture the 20 or 30 extra runs that would have given East Zone a lead. Mukesh Kumar was last out at 266, the same number Rajat Patidar’s side had reached on Sunday.
Central Zone got there with Rinku Singh’s 60 from 88 balls, eight fours in it, and a last-wicket flourish from Yash Thakur, who hit six boundaries in an unbeaten 30 off 26. Mukesh Kumar and Abhijit Sarkar took three each in that innings, Mohammed Shami two.
Central are 45 for three with a match to save
The second innings has not started well for the defending champions. Mukesh Kumar knocked over Kunal Chandela and then Patidar, Shami had Aryan Juyal caught by Easwaran, and Central closed on 45 for three from 20 overs. Aman Mokhade is 23 not out. Rinku, Yash Rathod and Dubey are all still to bat, which is the reason Central will not be panicking yet, but two days remain and the lead is 45.
Tilak Varma carried South Zone at the other ground
On the neighbouring pitch at Centre of Excellence Ground 2, Tilak Varma batted through the day for 106 not out and put South Zone 90 ahead of North Zone. It was not a quick hundred. He faced 225 balls, brought up three figures off 219, and did it after South Zone had slipped to 80 for five.
Shreyas Gopal was the partner who made it possible, 87 from 169 balls, and the pair added 175 for the sixth wicket. Gurnoor Brar, added to the North Zone squad only for the semi-finals, took four for 70 and did most of the damage in the top order before that stand. Arshdeep Singh and Anshul Kamboj took two apiece. South Zone were 285 for nine at the close.
North Zone’s 195 on Sunday came off the back of Qamran Iqbal’s 76 from 182 balls, and Vidwath Kaverappa’s four for 66 was what kept the total down. Both semi-finals run to 2 September. The final starts in Chennai on 6 September.