India’s teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi stepped up as an unexpected bowling option for East Zone in the first quarterfinal of the Duleep Trophy 2026-27 against North East Zone at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 2 in Bengaluru.

Skipper Ishan Kishan took a calculated risk by throwing him the ball to Sooryavanshi, unaware of his full bowling capabilities. However, the 15-year-old delivered highly economical and impactful figures of 2/11 from just three overs.

He broke the opposition's resistance by dismissing Kishan Lyngdoh (caught at mid-wicket) and Imliwati Lemtur (edged to the wicketkeeper).

Days after East Zone's massive innings and 210-run victory, Sooryavanshi provided a sneak peek into his mindset when he has the ball in hand.

“If you ask any batter, he enjoys bowling. Or if you ask a bowler, he enjoys batting. The opponents weren't losing wickets, so I was asked to bowl 2-3 overs. Ishan bhaiya thought that he was taking a risk in giving me the ball. But he didn't know that I'm a wicket taker,” Sooryavanshi said in a video shared by BCCI Domestic.

"I always knew that even if I take five wickets, I will only get three overs to bowl. So I tried to bowl as well as I could. I was just trying to repeatedly land the ball in one area. It was a lot of fun. I didn't do well with the bat in the last match. So it's a lot of fun to contribute to the team's bowling. And of course, if a batter takes a wicket, he never enjoys it more than that. So it's a lot of fun," he added.

While Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has taken the cricketing world by storm with his white-ball exploits, he is yet to leave a mark in the red-ball format. The young prodigy averages an abysmal 16.53 in first-class cricket after 9 matches and was dismissed for only 8 runs off 6 balls in the recent Duleep Trophy fixture.

Sooryavanshi will get another match to prove his mettle in red-ball cricket when East Zone face Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy semifinal, starting August 30.