Duleep Trophy: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi takes over as East Zone stand-in captain after Ishan Kishan suffers injury

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made history on Sunday after he was named East Zone's stand-in skipper in their Duleep Trophy semi-final against Central Zone in Bengaluru.

The 15-year-old was named the skipper of East Zone after regular skipper Ishan Kishan was ruled out of the match due to a hand injury. Kishan sustained the injury during the 19th over of Central Zone's innings, and he walked off the field after receiving treatment on the field.

Vaibhav, who was named East Zone vice-captain for the tournament, was then named as the stand-in skipper. Kumar Kushagra took over the wicketkeeping duties.

Vaibhav's vice-captaincy appointment raises eyebrows

Vaibhav's appointment as the vice-captain of East Zone raised eyebrows among domestic cricket fans. Jharkhand selector Manish Vardhan had defended the decision to appoint Vaibhav as vice-captain.

"We are not thinking about the present alone," he told Cricinfo in July. "A vice-captain gets to observe the captain closely and understand how a team is run. We wanted Vaibhav to be more involved with the group because we think it will help him as he develops. He's an extremely talented cricketer and is maturing steadily. Giving him this responsibility is another part of that process," he explained.

The Bihar teenager rose to fame in IPL 2025 with Rajasthan Royals, wherein he scored 252 runs from seven matches, including one fifty and one century.

Earlier this year, Vaibhav enjoyed an excellent U-19 World Cup campaign, aggregating 439 runs from seven matches, that included a knock of 175 from 80 balls in the final against England.

He also enjoyed a memorable IPL 2026 with the bat, aggregating 776 runs from 16 matches at a strike-rate of 237.30. He won the Orange Cap, and this performance helped him earn an India T20I debut in the away series against England in July. In the quarter-final against North East Zone, Vaibhav was dismissed for eight runs from six deliveries.

He impressed with the ball in North East Zone's second innings, finishing with figures of 2/11 from three overs. Coming back to the ongoing Duleep Trophy semi-final, East Zone won the toss and opted to field first. At the time of writing this report, Central Zone were 108/4 after 41 overs.

His performance as stand-in skipper, which is a new chapter in his cricketing journey, will now be closely watched as East Zone look to secure a place in the Duleep Trophy final.