Watch: Tilak Varma sledges Vaibhav Sooryavanshi during Duleep Trophy 2026 final

The opening batter of the East Zone, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, was sledged by the South Zone captain, Tilak Varma, during the final of the Duleep Trophy 2026, which took place at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The southpaw smashed a thrilling knock in their semifinal in Bengaluru.  

For Sooryavanshi, being the vice-captain of the East Zone, it was a massive contest for him, as he was opening the batting against the Indian pacer, Mohammed Siraj, who had been added to the squad after the end of the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka.

"Kya yaar, ye vice-captain" — Inside Tilak Varma's sledge that went viral

During the first hour of the encounter, it felt like Tilak Varma sledged Sooryavanshi, who was taking all of his bowlers around the park before being dismissed by the left-arm pacer, Chama V Milind. He began the innings in a strong fashion and took Siraj to the cleaners. 

Watch Tilak varma sledging Sooryavanshi here- 

A video has gone viral on social media platforms where he could be heard saying, “Kya yaar ye vice-captain (what is this vice-captain)?” However, the attempt seemed to be taken in a funny way as the southpaw had a smile on his face. The fans were not happy to see Tilak adopting this strategy against Vaibhav.

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Sooryavanshi has been superb in the red-ball competition. That incident happened twice, including during the change of overs, when the umpires came between them and tried to cool them down.

Sooryavanshi fell for 44 off 37 balls minutes after the heated exchange

Tilak put a defensive field placement against Sooryavanshi where four fielders were on the boundary line on Siraj’s bowling in his very first over. The left-handed batter began the third over with a boundary, which was squeezed through the backward point before nailing two fours in three balls against Nidheesh.

See Also: Watch: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi smashes Mohammed Siraj for successive boundaries in Duleep Trophy 2026 final

He drilled the Indian pacer’s second ball of the seventh over through point as it raced away for a four. On the very next delivery, he took the aerial route and cleared the rope for a massive six. The over ended with another four as the Bihar-born went hard against Siraj. He was finally dismissed on 44 runs off 37 balls. 

Brief Scores: East Zone 246/4 (Shikhar Mohan 85, Chama V Milind 2/28) vs South Zone

Fans react to Tilak Varma's sledging ploy against the 15-year-old prodigy

The fans were stunned by Verma's sledging strategy against Sooryavanshi as it went viral on social media platforms-