The 15-year-old, playing his first red-ball Test in the tournament, smashed 92 off just 81 deliveries, including seven fours and seven sixes. His explosive knock made him the youngest player to score a half-century in Duleep Trophy history.
Sooryavanshi, aged 15 years and 157 days, surpassed the 57-year-old record held by Laxman Singh, who was 16 years and 23 days old when he scored a fifty in the tournament in 1969.
The Bihar batter narrowly missed out on becoming the youngest Duleep Trophy centurion after he holed out to deep midwicket off Central Zone left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey.
While Sooryavanshi attacked the bowlers, experienced opener Abhimanyu Easwaran anchored the innings at the other end, scoring 69 off 106 balls. The duo added 161 runs for the opening wicket.
Sooryavanshi’s dismissal, however, triggered a dramatic collapse. Dubey struck twice in successive deliveries, removing Kumar Kushagra after dismissing Sooryavanshi, while Aryan Pandey and Yash Thakur also made significant inroads into the East Zone batting order.
Dubey produced an impressive spell after lunch, claiming three wickets in 15 minutes, including those of Easwaran, Virat Singh and Sudip Gharami. Yash also picked up three wickets as East Zone were bowled out for 266, exactly the same total posted by Central Zone in their first innings.
Central, however, struggled in their second innings as East Zone’s India internationals Mukesh Kumar and Mohammed Shami made early breakthroughs.
Mukesh dismissed Kunal Chandela in the fifth over before Shami removed Central opener Aryan Juyal, who was caught in the slips.
Mukesh then claimed the crucial wicket of captain Rajat Patidar, getting him with another short delivery. Patidar had been dismissed by a similar chopped-on delivery in the first innings.
Central Zone ended the day at 45/3, holding an overall second-innings lead of 45 runs and leaving East Zone in a strong position heading into Day 3.
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