Duleep Trophy: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi gives Tilak Varma a taste of his own medicine

With East Zone cementing their place in the Duleep Trophy final on Day 4, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi decided to give South Zone captain Tilak Varma a taste of his own medicine.

Vaibhav, who had been receiving a few words from Tilak on the first day of the summit clash, approached the South Zone captain and returned the favor with a few words of his own.

The incident took place in the wee hours of Day 4, with South Zone already 8 wickets down and staring at defeat. Chasing East Zone’s mammoth first innings total of 708, South slumped to less than 330 for eight despite batting on a flat pitch.

As Tilak tried to start the fight from one end, Vaibhav approached the batsman, exchanged a few words with him and then calmly walked away.

The moment was reminiscent of what happened on the first day.

As the East Zone openers went wild in the opening 10 overs of the final, Tilak walked up to Vaibhav and appeared to exchange a few words with the young batsman.

Four days later, Vaibhav got an opportunity to return the favor.

And maybe a little more satisfaction given how the match has progressed since that first exchange.

BULLDOZ EAST ZONE SOUTH

Led by Ishan Kishan, East Zone piled up a massive 708 in their first innings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, putting South Zone under immense pressure.

South struggled to cope with East’s fast attack, with Mohammed Shami and Mukesh Kumar attacking at regular intervals. Wickets continued to fall, although the pitch remained batting friendly, leaving South 8 failing and still well short of East’s first innings total.

Tilak was one of the few South batsmen to fight back, but the skipper found himself fighting a losing battle as East came close to closing out the Duleep Trophy final.

On Day 1, Tilak tried to put Vaibhav under pressure. With East firmly in control on Day 4, the teenager had the perfect opportunity to give his fellow Indian a taste of his own medicine.

– The end

Issued by:

Kingshuk Kusari

Published on:

09 Sep 2026 12:04 IST