Irani Cup, 2018: Vidarbha vs Rest of India – Statistical Highlights

Vidarbha’s dream season came to an end with another title in their cabinet as the Ranji Trophy champions clinched the Irani Cup by trashing the Rest of India side. Vidarbha batted until the 4th day of the game after more than two sessions of play was lost on the 3rd day. The home side ended up with 800/7 on the board with Wasim Jaffer scored 286 during his marathon innings. In reply, Rest of India conceded the first innings lead who were bowled out for just 390.

All the stats and numbers that were recorded during the high-scoring Irani Cup match:

3 – Umesh Yadav dismissed Mayank Agarwal three times in three FC innings they faced in 2017/18 season. Mayank scored 17 runs at an average of 5.67 in the 21 balls he faced against the Indian pacer in those three innings.

6 – Wasim Jaffer registered his 6th consecutive fifty-plus score in Irani Cup with the double century. He became the 2nd player after Gundappa Viswanath with six consecutive 50+ scores in Irani Cup.

216 – Hanuma Vihari and Jayant Yadav’s stand of 216 is only the 2nd double century partnership for 7th and lower wicket in Irani Cup. Surinder Amarnath and S Madan Lal put on 219 for the 7th wicket for Delhi in 1980. Rest of India never had a 150+ stand in the Irani Cup before the Vihari-Jayant partnership for the 7th and lower wicket.

286 – Wasim Jaffer’s 286 is the highest individual score in Irani Cup. He surpassed Murali Vijay’s 266 which he scored for Rest of India against Rajasthan in 2012.

He also became the first player to score 250+ for Vidarbha in a first-class inning. The previous highest individual FC score for Vidarbha was 221 by Samir Gujar in 1991/92 against Madhya Pradesh.

289 – Jaffer’s 289 run partnership with Ganesh Satish is the first 200+ stand for the 3rd wicket in Irani Cup. This is the 4th highest stand for any wicket in Irani Cup and the also highest for any team against Rest of India.

This is also Vidarbha’s 2nd highest stand for any wicket in FC cricket. Samir Gujar and Suhas Phadkar put on 315 for the 5th wicket in the 1988/89 season against Uttar Pradesh.

800/7 – Vidarbha’s first innings total of 800/7 is the highest team total in Irani Cup surpassing Rest of India’s 737/7 against Bengal in 1990. This was also the first 600+ total in first-class cricket for Vidarbha.

With the total of 800/7, Vidarbha became the first team to post 800+ in first-class cricket since 2010 and also the first such team in Indian FC cricket since 1995.

1998 – The Ranji champions won the Irani Cup title based on the first innings lead for the first time in 20 seasons. Karnataka was the last team to do it when they took the first innings lead over the Rest of India team in the 1998/99 season.