Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has been handed the vice-captaincy of the East Zone squad for the Duleep Trophy 2026-27 season, marking the teenager's first leadership role in zonal red-ball cricket.
The 15-year-old will deputise for Ishan Kishan in the 15-member squad, the zonal selectors confirmed on Wednesday. The upcoming season of Duleep Trophy kicks off from August 23 at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
Named after Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji, the Duleep Trophy is the traditional curtain-raiser for India’s domestic tournaments and has been contested since 1961-62.
Usually a zonal competition, it pits regional sides - North, South, East, West, Central and North East Zone - against one another, though the format has flip-flopped over the years.
East Zone will start their Duleep Trophy 2026 campaign against North East Zone in the four-day quarter-finals from July 23. All quarters and semis matches at the Duleep Trophy are played over four days with the final being a five-day affair.
Vaibhav was named as a standby player in East Zone’s Duleep Trophy 2025 squad.
The vice-captaincy underlines Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's rise over the past year, which has seen the Bihar teenager enjoy a brilliant IPL 2026 campaign with Rajasthan Royals, finishing as the competition’s youngest-ever Orange Cap winner.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made his T20I debut against England earlier this month, becoming the youngest-ever Indian to play international cricket, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar.
In only his second T20I series, Vaibhav emerged as the top scorer overall as India swept Zimbabwe 3-0 away.
The teenager scored two fifties in three matches - his 50 off 19 in the first game making him the youngest player to ever score a half-century in men’s international cricket. He ended the series with a score of 81 off 49 at Harare.
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For all the white-ball fireworks, red-ball cricket remains largely uncharted territory for the teenager. He has managed 207 runs in 12 innings at an average of 17.25 across eight first-class matches, with a best of 93.
The Kishan-led squad also features two other Test players in pacers Mohammed Shami and Mukesh Kumar.
Rajasthan Royals skipper Riyan Parag, who played for East Zone last season, was not in selection consideration as he continues to recover from a surgery he underwent after the IPL, as per reports from Cricinfo.
Another Royal, Tushar Deshpande, was named in the West Zone Duleep Trophy squad earlier.
East Zone squad for Duleep Trophy 2026
East Zone cricket team: 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.
