Duleep Trophy 2026 final: 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi gives Tilak Varma sledging payback in viral face-off originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
-
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi returned Tilak Varma’s Day 1 sledge on Day 4 of the Duleep Trophy final with his own words.
-
Tilak fell heartbreakingly short of a century, dismissed for 99.
-
East Zone dominating proceedings with both bat and ball.
Advertisement
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the 15-year-old who’d been on the receiving end of Tilak Varma’s in-game needle on the first day, calmly walked up to the South Zone captain and returned the favour at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Day 4 of the Duleep Trophy final.
On day one, with East Zone’s openers going berserk in the opening exchanges of the match, Tilak had strolled over to Sooryavanshi and got in his face.
The South Zone captain’s fast bowlers were getting nowhere, and his frustration boiled over into what was equal parts sledge and wind-up.
Advertisement
“Kya re ye vice-captain?” he said before turning around and heading back. Sooryavanshi took it in his stride, and the two were spotted laughing moments later, but it planted a seed.
By the time Day 4 arrived, the match had swung entirely in East Zone’s direction. Chasing East’s enormous first-innings total of 708, South Zone were crumbling badly.
Tilak was fighting hard to keep things together from his end. That’s when Sooryavanshi chose his moment as he walked over to the batter, said a few quiet words, and then turned around and walked back just as calmly as Tilak had done to him on the opening day.
