Irani Cup 2018, Day 5, Review: Vidarbha win maiden title on first innings lead

Team Vidarbha continued their dream season with yet another emphatic win. The team won their first ever Irani Cup title after having won the Ranji Trophy earlier this season. The Irani Cup is one of the premier domestic tournaments in India where the winners of the Ranji Trophy lock horns with the Rest of India. Coming to the trophy this year, the Faiz Fazal-led side won the title based on their first innings lead.

On the final day of the match, the Rest of India started off their innings with 6 wickets down in the first innings. They trailed by 564 runs when the action resumed on the day. Hanuma Vihari showed serious character with the bat for ROI with a gutsy ton to his name. But that was not enough for the team to avoid the inevitable. ROI bundled out for 390 in their first innings eventually with Vihari top scoring with 183.

Vidarbha opted to bat again and scored 79 before their skipper decided to call back the players. The match ended in a draw but the Ranji Champions were crowned as the winners based on their higher first innings total. Earlier in the game, Vidarbha batted first after winning the toss. Skipper Faiz Fazal and Sanjay Ramaswamy scored fifties before the middle order chipped in with big scores.

While Ganesh Satish batted well for his 120, it was Wasim Jaffer who rose to the occasion on the big stage. Jaffer top scored with a marathon knock of 286 (431) with 34 fours and a six. Also, Apoorv Wankhade scored an unbeaten 157 coming in at number 5. The three centurions helped their side post a huge total of 800/7 before declaring in the first innings.

Tame start for ROI

Rest of India had a tame start to their innings with R Samarth departing for a duck. The likes of Mayank Agarwal (11) and Karun Nair (21) fell soon after. Prithvi Shaw played well for his 51. But the real resistance was shown by Hanuma Vihari (183) and Jayant Yadav (96) who added 216 runs for the 7th wicket trying to rebuild the ROI innings from 98/6.

ROI bundled out for 390 with Rajneesh Gurbani picking up 4/70 with the ball. Aditya Sarwate bagged 3/97. In the second innings, Akshay Wadkar opened the innings for Vidarbha. The innings was called off by their skipper when Wadkar reached his fifty.

Brief Scores:

Vidarbha 800/7 decl. in 226.3 overs (Jaffer 286, Wankhade 157*, Kaul 2/91, Mayank 1/21)

Rest of India 390/10 in 129.1 overs (Vihari 183, Jayant 96, Gurbani 4/70, Sarwate 3/97)

Vidarbha 79/0 in 26 overs (Wadkar 50*)

Player of the Match: Wasim Jaffer

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