Ishan Kishan may have walked away with the Player of the Match award after a spectacular Duleep Trophy final, but the East Zone captain jokingly suggested that his young deputy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was trying to steal the spotlight for his DRS calls.

Kishan and Sooryavanshi shared a light-hearted exchange after East Zone’s memorable Duleep Trophy 2026/27 triumph over South Zone, with the pair playfully arguing over who deserved credit for the team’s successful reviews.

Kishan, who amassed more than 350 runs across the two innings of the final, including a stunning 270 in the first innings, claimed Sooryavanshi had made sure he received the attention whenever a review was taken.

“Yeh sab review mein credit le hi liya hai har jagah. Bhale main lene waala tha review, but aake mast bol deta tha, ‘main aapke paas aa jaata hu’. Phir toh internet will be like: Vaibhav! My goodness! Vaibhav is the one!” Kishan said in a video posted on BCCI domestic social media accounts on Friday.

Sooryavanshi was not about to let that one go.

“Aur jab field ke bahar jaa rahe the tab kon le raha tha review? Yeh bhi toh bata dijiye!” he shot back, asking Kishan who was taking the reviews when they were walking off the field.

The banter aside, Kishan was full of praise for the teenager and even hinted at a future leadership role for the 19-year-old.

“Haan, that was Vaibhav himself! Yes. Future captain, maybe? Let’s see how it goes,” Kishan said.

The East Zone skipper also praised Sooryavanshi’s ability to look after the entire squad, pointing out that his value goes beyond his performances with the bat.

“It’s very good to have him in the team because more than a very good player, he’s a very nice boy who takes care of each and every one in the team, whether it’s a junior player or senior,” he said.

Kishan then caught himself while calling Sooryavanshi a junior.

“Achha, junior toh tu hi hua,” he joked. “Sorry, sorry.”

He also backed the youngster to become an even more dangerous player in the years ahead.

“Hopefully, he’ll be more dangerous than what he is today. I think it’s not going to be his first or the last. I think he’s gonna play many more like this, and he’ll keep performing the way he’s doing right now.”

Sooryavanshi, who briefly took over the on-field leadership duties during the semifinal when Kishan was sidelined with a finger injury, returned the praise by highlighting how much fun it was to watch his captain produce a match-defining performance in the final.

“The way we were off the field and the way we were enjoying inside, it was a lot of fun. The way he batted in the final, it was unbelievable,” Sooryavanshi said.

“I think the match changed from there and as a captain, a lot of people have been watching and playing under him for a long time. It was a lot of fun to play in his captaincy. We enjoyed a lot.”

Kishan, meanwhile, ended on a note that summed up the mood inside the East Zone camp, saying:

“The most important thing is to enjoy. The result is not in our hands, but to enjoy as a team is very important,” he said, before correcting himself with a smile: “Sorry, the result is in our hands right now, but it’s very important to enjoy.”