All eyes were on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi as India A, led by Tilak Varma, took the field against Sri Lanka A in the A Tri-Nation Series opener on Tuesday at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium. The 15-year-old began the innings well for himself, hitting a boundary on the very first ball he faced in the game. In Mohamed Shiraz’s opening over, Sooryavanshi managed to hit two elegant boundaries on offside, and the youngster showed no nerves, carrying on where he left off in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 for the Rajasthan Royals.
Sooryavanshi didn’t stop there as he then hit a boundary off the bowling of Chamika Karunaratne as well. However, his innings ended prematurely when he played one shot too many, and a rush of blood led to his dismissal. Shiraz had the final laugh as he dismissed Sooryavanshi, taking the ultimate revenge after being hit for two boundaries in his opening over.
The left-hander was dismissed on the fourth delivery of the fourth over. The pacer bowled a full delivery, and the teen sensation looked to belt the ball down the ground. However, the willow turned in his hands, and he failed to get the desired connection. The delivery flew towards mid-off, and Sahan Arachchige completed a sensational diving catch.
The Sri Lanka A skipper judged the ball exceptionally well and plucked the ball inches from the ground. As soon as Sooryavanshi was dismissed, the Sri Lankan pacer’s celebration knew no bounds as the excitement took over.
Sooryavanshi sported a disappointed look as he walked back to the hut after scoring just 14 runs off 12 balls with the help of three boundaries. All of his fours came on the offside, but as soon as the Sri Lankan opening pacers corrected their lengths, the youngster found it a bit difficult. His dismissal was then followed by Prabhsimran Singh also walking back for two runs off 11 balls, and his wicket was taken by Karunaratne.
Tilak wins toss
The contest between India A and Sri Lanka A began with skipper Tilak Varma winning the toss and opting to bat. There has been immense build-up to the A series, and it has been largely down to Sooryavanshi, who had a fantastic IPL, winning five awards and scoring 776 runs for the Royals, finishing as the leading run-getter.
This performance in the IPL 2026 edition led to Sooryavanshi becoming the youngest to be named in the India squad. He broke Sachin Tendulkar’s 36-year-old record after he was named in the squads for the T20I series against Ireland and England. Moreover, he was also included in the team for the Asian Games.
