‘Vaibhav bhai, Vaibhav ji, Vaibhav. The roar reached a crescendo as Sooryavanshi walked to the fence to greet fans, who have been waiting since Sunday morning to have a closer look at the latest cricketing darling. The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association opened the lower stands in the C, D and E blocks at the MA Chidambaram Stadium free of cost for the Duleep Trophy final between South Zone and East Zone. It’s a rare sight in domestic cricket these days, and often confined to the romantics’ memories from the 80s or 90s.
But they would not have expected nearly 12000 spectators to rush to fill those decks. The last time such a frenzy was witnessed was on January 30, 2025 when Virat Kohli turned out for Delhi in a Ranji Trophy match after 12 years. Before that some 15000 fans waited to get a glimpse of Sachin Tendulkar in his last first-class match for Mumbai against Haryana at Lahli in 2013.
So, how does Sooryavanshi take in all this adulation, the status of national crush? “He is a down to earth person. He does not think much about all this and thinks only about his cricket.
It’s nice to have him in the dressing room,” said Shikhar Mohan, his East Zone teammate after the day’s play.
