When Abhimanyu Easwaran clipped Mohammed Siraj off his thigh pad to get the scoring underway in the Duleep Trophy 2026 final, the strangled sound of a half-cheer escaped from the crowd before they realised that the batters were coming back for two.

Two balls later, the sound materialised in full. As Easwaran flipped the ball off his pads again, a full-throated roar emerged that quickly morphed into chants of “Vaibhav, Vaibhav!”

This final is ostensibly a home game for South Zone. It is fair to say, though, that a fair few in the Chennai crowd found their loyalties a little divided when presented with the opportunity to spend their Sunday morning catching their first glance of the 15-year-old wunderkind Vaibhav Sooryavanshi playing his first senior domestic final.

They hung on his every action through the morning. His first ball, which yielded an inside-edge past leg-stump for one, produced the kind of “oooh” a crowd normally makes for one of its own, and his first boundary, squeezed through point off Siraj, was ushered away to the boundary with cheers.

That boundary was the first indication of the day of Sooryavanshi’s evolving game against the red-ball.

In the semifinal against Central Zone, he made a more concerted effort to preserve his wicket in the early stages of the innings, and that was on display again on Sunday morning.

His characteristically dextrous backswing was curtailed, and in its place came a more compact approach built around the forward defence. While the boundaries still came aplenty, they were more conventional high-elbow drives along the ground, including a series of delightful backfoot punches through the offside against MD Nidheesh.

There was also far more willingness to take the simple runs on offer.

South Zone skipper Tilak Varma opted to spread the field early, at one point having five fielders on the boundary inside the first hour to the youngster, and there was a maturity to the way Sooryavanshi opted to take the singles on offer rather than trying to go over the field.

The audacity could not be entirely contained though, and Siraj – returning from having played both Tests in Sri Lanka – felt the brunt of it as he was unceremoniously dumped over the sidescreen for a six and four in the same over.

Having batted so responsibly through the morning, it was that audacity that would account for him in the end.

A miscued attempt to hook a short ball for six was well held by the substitute fielder in the deep, but as he walked back for 44 from 37 deliveries, few in the crowd could dispute he had made it a morning well spent.