A record-breaking batting performance from Yashasvi Jaiswal and brilliant performers from bowlers helped the Rest of India clinch their 30th Irani Cup title by defeating Madhya Pradesh by 238 runs at Gwalior on Sunday.
Chasing a total of 437 runs set by ROI, MP lost their opener Arham Aquil for a duck to Mukesh Kumar, who trapped her leg-before-wicket. MP was 0/1 at that point. Himanshu Mantri, the skipper and Shubham Sharma joined forces to revive the chase. They formed a 51-run stand for the second wicket and seemed to be in the right direction. But Saurabh Kumar cleaned up Shubam for just 13 to end the partnership.
Skipper Himanshu reached his half-century, but was dismissed by Navdeep Saini for 51 off 81 balls. MP was 81/3. Harsh Gawli and Aman Solanki put on a 49-run stand that helped their side cross the 140-run mark. But Atit Sheth and Pulkit Narang cleaned up both for 48 and 31 runs respectively. MP was 151/6.
The rest of MP batting line-up could not put up a fight and the Ranji Trophy 2021-22 champions were bundled out for 198 runs and lost the match by 238 runs.
Saurabh was the pick of the bowlers for ROI, with 3/60. Mukesh Kumar and Pulkit took two wickets each. Navdeep took one wicket.
Brief Scores: ROI: 484 and 246 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 144, Atit Sheth 30, Ankit Kushwah 2/44) beat MP: 294 and 198 (Himanshu Mantri 51, Harsh Gawli 48, Saurabh Kumar 3/60).
