East Zone Triumph in Duleep Trophy 2026/27: Ishan Kishan and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's Dynamic Duo

In the afterglow of a landmark Duleep Trophy 2026/27 triumph, East Zone’s celebrations in New Delhi carried a very modern twist: a light-hearted tug-of-war over Decision Review System bragging rights.

The scoreboard will forever show Ishan Kishan as captain, centurion and Player of the Match after a colossal 270 in the first innings and more than 350 runs across the final. Yet in the dressing room, his 15-year-old deputy, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, happily walked away with a different kind of credit.

A captain, a deputy and a DRS joke

Speaking in a video shared on BCCI’s social media, Kishan could not resist poking fun at his young understudy.

“He has taken all the credit for the review everywhere,” Kishan laughed, explaining how Sooryavanshi would stride up with confidence just as the captain was about to call for DRS. The teenager’s body language did the rest. Once the cameras caught it, the narrative wrote itself.

“Then the internet will be like: Vaibhav! My goodness! Vaibhav is the one!” Kishan said, half-mocking, half-admiring the way his deputy had “fulfilled that role very well.”

Sooryavanshi, barely out of schoolboy cricket but already sharp enough to fire back, did not miss his chance.

“When we were going off the field, who was taking the reviews then? Tell us that too!” he replied, reminding everyone that he was not just a mascot in a senior dressing room, but an active voice in the decision-making.

The exchange captured the mood of an East Zone side that had just overpowered South Zone and looked, crucially, like they were enjoying every minute of it.

Future captain in the making?

Once the teasing subsided, Kishan turned serious. His tone shifted from banter to something closer to a senior pro weighing up the next generation.

“Yes. Future captain, maybe? Let’s see how it goes,” he said of Sooryavanshi, before outlining why the teenager already stands out in a dressing room full of older players.

“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, but one that underlined how quickly Sooryavanshi has climbed the ladder.

“Achha, junior toh tu hi hua… sorry, sorry,” Kishan corrected himself, effectively acknowledging that the 15-year-old no longer feels like a tag-along junior in this set-up.

Kishan’s admiration went beyond personality. He spoke like someone convinced that this final will be a starting point, not a one-off.

“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,” the captain said, placing a clear marker down for what East Zone expect from their young deputy in the coming seasons.

‘The match changed from there’

If Kishan was generous with his praise, Sooryavanshi matched him. The teenager’s assessment of the final revolved around two themes: the atmosphere in the camp and the sheer weight of his captain’s runs.

“The way we were off the field and the way we were enjoying inside, it was a lot of fun,” he said, drawing a straight line between the relaxed environment and the performance on the biggest domestic stage.

Then he turned to Kishan’s batting.

“The way he batted in the final, it was unbelievable. I can’t say anything much about it. I think the match changed from there,” Sooryavanshi admitted, acknowledging how that towering 270 in the first innings swung the contest decisively East Zone’s way.

For a 15-year-old to talk about “playing under him for a long time” might sound premature, but it hints at how long Kishan has been a reference point for younger players coming through the system. This was not just a final; for many in that dressing room, it was the culmination of years of watching Kishan lead, hit and scrap across formats.

“It was a lot of fun to play in his captaincy. We enjoyed a lot,” Sooryavanshi added, summing up a campaign that ended with a trophy and a dressing room still buzzing.

‘The most important thing is to enjoy’

Kishan closed the conversation with a line that revealed as much about his leadership as any tactical call or marathon innings.

“The most important thing is to enjoy. The result is not in our hands, but to enjoy as a team is very important,” he said, before quickly catching himself. “Sorry, the result is in our hands right now, but it’s very important to enjoy.”

It was a neat slip of the tongue. East Zone had just proved that results can indeed be forced by weight of runs, sharp reviews and bold leadership. Yet the captain still circled back to joy, camaraderie and a teenager trusted with DRS calls in a major final.

On a night that belonged statistically to Kishan, the sight of him sharing the spotlight with a 15-year-old deputy told its own story. If this is what East Zone look like in celebration, what might they look like when this partnership has a few more seasons behind it?