Vaibhav Sooryavanshi rattles Tilak Varma. South Zone captain resorts to sledging teenager

A rattled Tilak Varma resorted to sledging teenager Vaibhav Sooryavanshi on Day 1 of the Duleep Trophy final. Fielding against a rampaging opening duo of Vaibhav and Abhimanyu Easwaran, Tilak briefly lost his cool and started chirping at Vaibhav around the 10th over of the match.

Tilak desperately tried to break Vaibhav’s concentration, who had put Mohammed Siraj to the sword a few overs back. With his fast bowlers failing against the East Zone openers, Tilak went up to Vaibhav’s face to dress him down.

However, what Tilak could only muster was: “Kya re ye vice-captain?” before walking away from the left-hander.

Duleep Trophy Final Live: East Zone vs South Zone Day 1 Updates

The sledging seemed to have little effect on the flow of runs as Vaibhav and Easwaran continued their measured onslaught on the South Zone bowlers. Easwaran raced to his fifty in the 14th over, securing his milestone in just 46 balls.

Vaibhav looked good for a half-century as well, but ended up falling in the 16th over against a short ball from left-arm pacer CV Milind.

But by that time, the tone of the match had been set. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Abhimanyu Easwaran had added 100 runs in the first 15 overs, on a pitch where they were expected to be watchful in the first hour of play.

VAIBHAV, EASWARAN DOMINATE

East Zone captain Ishan Kishan had won the toss earlier and opted to bat first in the Duleep Trophy final. He had expected a fair bit of help for the fast bowlers in the first hour of play.

Mohammed Siraj’s first over did have signs of seam and bounce, but the East Zone batters methodically broke down the South Zone attack. While Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was punishing on the off side, Abhimanyu Easwaran dominated the leg side of the field.

The onslaught forced Tilak to set up five boundary riders from the 8th over, a tactic that is usually not seen in red-ball cricket.

South, however, were able to dismiss both batters in the first session, with Vaibhav getting out to a short ball and Easwaran getting run out due to an on-pitch confusion with batter S Mohan.

At the end of the first session, East Zone had 133 runs for the loss of two wickets.

– Ends