India, Sept. 6 -- Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was supposed to be the young man everyone watched at Chepauk. At 15, already carrying a reputation that has grown far beyond domestic cricket, he walked out for East Zone in the Duleep Trophy final with cameras following almost every move. By the time tea arrived on the opening day, however, another young left-hander had quietly pushed himself to the centre of the conversation.

Unlike Sooryavanshi, he had not played a single match in East Zone's run to the final. In fact, when the squad was originally announced, the 21-year-old from Jharkhand had been described as the reserve opener. Yet, given his first opportunity of the tournament in the biggest match of it, Shikhar Mohan produced an 85-run innin...