Ishan Kishan Celebrates Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's Role in Duleep Trophy Victory
In the end, it wasn’t the 270 that went viral. It was the banter.
East Zone had just sealed a memorable Duleep Trophy 2026/27 title in New Delhi, Ishan Kishan walking away with Player of the Match honours after piling up more than 350 runs across two innings, including that outrageous 270 in the first. Yet as the cameras rolled in the afterglow of the win over South Zone, the captain chose not to talk about himself.
He chose to talk about his 15-year-old deputy.
The DRS “mastermind”
Standing alongside Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Kishan launched into a mock complaint about who really deserved the credit for East Zone’s sharp Decision Review System calls during the final.
“Yeh sab review mein credit le hi liya hai har jagah,” he laughed, explaining how Sooryavanshi kept swooping in at the last moment, confidently fronting the reviews that Kishan was about to take. The punchline was clear: by the time the clips hit social media, the internet would only be saying one name.
“Vaibhav! My goodness! Vaibhav is the one!”
The teenager didn’t back down. He fired straight back with a reminder of his own role when the team was heading off the field: “Aur jab field ke bahar jaa rahe the tab kon le raha tha review? Yeh bhi toh bata dijiye!”
It was light-hearted, but it said a lot. A 15-year-old, comfortable enough in a senior dressing room to trade lines with an India international, and a captain happy to share the spotlight on a night that could easily have been all about him.
‘Future captain, maybe?’
Kishan quickly shifted from teasing to praise. The tone changed, the respect obvious.
“Haan, that was Vaibhav himself! Yes. Future captain, maybe? Let’s see how it goes,” he said, before going beyond the usual platitudes about talent and technique.
For Kishan, it wasn’t just about what Sooryavanshi could do with bat or ball. It was about how he carried himself.
“It’s very good to have him in the team because more than a very good player, he’s a very nice boy who takes care of each and every one in the team, whether it’s a junior player or senior.”
Then came another joke, wrapped around a truth. Kishan started to refer to him as a junior, then immediately pulled himself up.
“Achha, junior toh tu hi hua, sorry, sorry,” he said, acknowledging with a grin that Sooryavanshi had already outgrown that label in this side.
The compliments kept coming. Kishan spoke of a player who, in his eyes, is only just getting started.
“Hopefully, he’ll be more dangerous than what he is today. I think it’s not going to be his first or the last. I think he’s gonna play many more like this, and he’ll keep performing the way he’s doing right now.”
On a day dominated by his own numbers, Kishan was busy building someone else’s future.
‘The match changed from there’
If Kishan framed Sooryavanshi as the future, the teenager was in no doubt about who had shaped the present.
He described an East Zone camp that felt loose, relaxed, and united, the off-field camaraderie spilling into their cricket. At the heart of it, he said, was his captain’s extraordinary innings in the final.
“The way we were off the field and the way we were enjoying inside, it was a lot of fun. The way he batted in the final, it was unbelievable. I can’t say anything much about it.”
Then he nailed the turning point.
“I think the match changed from there,” Sooryavanshi said, pointing straight at Kishan’s knock as the hinge on which the contest swung.
For a 15-year-old who has already shown leadership instincts, the respect for the man in charge was clear.
“As a captain, a lot of people have been watching and playing under him for a long time. It was a lot of fun to play in his captaincy. We enjoyed a lot.”
Enjoyment. The word kept coming back.
‘The result is in our hands right now’
When the laughter died down, Kishan offered a glimpse into the ethos driving this East Zone side.
“The most important thing is to enjoy,” he said. “The result is not in our hands, but to enjoy as a team is very important.”
Then he caught himself, with the same quick correction that had marked his “junior” comment.
“Sorry, the result is in our hands right now, but it’s very important to enjoy.”
It was a line delivered with a smile, but it carried the edge of a competitor who knows exactly what he and his team have just achieved. East Zone had their hands on the trophy, their captain had produced a final for the ages, and a 15-year-old deputy had announced himself with sharp thinking, personality, and presence.
On a night of records and milestones, it was that blend of joy, authority and shared ownership that stood out. If this is what East Zone looks like when they are simply “enjoying,” the rest of the domestic circuit will be watching very closely to see what happens when this group really starts to grow up together.
