Irani Cup 2023-24: Spinners run riot as Rest of India hammers Saurashtra for title

Chasing 255, Saurashtra was tasered and tied up in the third session as it was bowled out for 79, courtesy of left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar’s six-wicket haul.

Jubilant Rest of India with the Irani Cup on Tuesday, | Photo Credit: S. Prasanna Venkatesan

Rest of India beat Saurashtra by 175 runs to win the Irani Cup as 21 wickets fell on the third day at the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) stadium in Rajkot on Tuesday.

Parth Bhut’s seven-wicket spell in the second session hit the Rest of India (RoI) like a zooming bus as he ended up with figures of seven for 53. The RoI camp would have clutched at anything that looked like a lifeline as it lost nine wickets for 64 runs in the session to be bowled out for 160 in its second innings.

Chasing 255, though, Saurashtra was tasered and tied up in the third session as it was bowled out for 79, courtesy of left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar (six for 43, match haul of ten for 108).

The first session, in stark contrast, was a mushroom cloud of casual. Mayank Agarwal (49, 93b, 6x4) and Sai Sudharsan (43, 104b, 3x4) added 85 runs off 172 balls for the first-wicket partnership and the Rest of India camp would have felt jolly good with the world at large.

After lunch, it got perfectly rotten for Rest of India. Parth had Sudharsan at midwicket by Pujara, Sarfaraz Khan bowled as he attempted the reverse sweep, and Yash Dhull caught and bowled. Left-hander Shams Mulani came down the track and missed a ball that did not turn and went with the angle to be stumped.

KS Bharat top-edged a reverse sweep to be caught by the bowler himself. Pulkit Narang missed a ball that minutely straightened to get bowled through the gate, and Vidwath Kaverappa was out leg before wicket.

Effectively, Parth (twelve for 147) became the first bowler from Saurashtra (and Gujarat) to get a ten-wicket match haul in the Irani Cup. This is the third time that two bowlers, that too from either team, have got ten-wicket hauls after leg-spinners Baloo Gupte (for Bombay) and B.S. Chandrasekhar in 1964, and Sairaj Bahutule (for Mumbai) and Anil Kumble in 1997.

The scores (day three):

REST OF INDIA (1st innings): 308

SAURASHTRA (1st innings): Harvik Desai c Sarfaraz b Kaverappa 0, Chirag Jani c Bharat b Kaverappa 2, Samarth Vyas c Sarfaraz b Saurabh 29, Cheteshwar Pujara c Dhull b Narang 29, Sheldon Jackson lbw b Saurabh 13, Arpit Vasavada c Sarfaraz b Saurabh 54, Prerak Mankad lbw b Kaverappa 29, Parth Bhut c Bharat b Mulani 20, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja lbw b Mulani 11, Jaydev Unadkat c Narang b Saurabh 19, Yuvrajsinh Dodiya not out 0; Extras (lb-4, nb-3, w-1): 8; Total (all out in 83.2 overs): 214.

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1, 2-4, 3-51, 4-64, 5-77, 6-124, 7-178, 8-193, 9-205, 10-215

REST OF INDIA BOWLING: Kaverappa 9-0-28-3, Saini 4-0-14-0, Saurabh 26.2-5-65-4, Mulani 23-3-47-2, Narang 21-3-56-1

REST OF INDIA (2nd innings): Sai Sudharsan c Pujara b Parth 43, Mayank Agarwal c Harvik b Dharmendrasinh 49, Hanuma Vihari c Harvik b Dharmendrasinh 22, Sarfaraz Khan b Parth 13, Yash Dhull c & b Parth 5, Shams Mulani st Harvik b Parth 1, K.S. Bharat c & b Parth 0, Saurabh Kumar b Dharmendrasinh 7, Pulkit Narang b Parth 9, Navdeep Saini not out 4, Vidwath Kaverappa lbw b Parth 1; Extras (lb-4, nb-2): 6; Total (all out in 52 overs): 160.

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-85, 2-117, 3-133, 4-135, 5-138, 6-139, 7-146, 8-146, 9-156, 10-160

SAURASHTRA BOWLING: Unadkat 7-4-9-0, Dharmendrasinh 22-2-65-3, Dodiya 7-1-29-0, Parth 16-1-53-7

SAURASHTRA (2nd innings): Chirag Jani b Saurabh 1, Harvik Desai c Sarfaraz b Saurabh 13, Samarth Vyas b Saurabh 10, Cheteshwar Pujara lbw b Mulani 7, Sheldon Jackson c Kaverappa b Saurabh 3, Arpit Vasavada c Vihari b Mulani 0, Prerak Mankad c Dhull b Narang 12, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja c Mulani b Saurabh 21, Parth Bhut c Dhull b Mulani 1, Jaydev Unadkat not out 8, Yuvrajsinh Dodiya b Saurabh 0; Extras (b-3): 3; Total (all out in 34.3 overs): 79

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-3, 2-15, 3-26, 4-33, 5-34, 6-42, 7-50, 8-51, 9-79, 10-79

REST OF INDIA BOWLING: Kaverappa 3-0-5-0, Saurabh 16.3-1-43-6, Saini 2-0-5-0, Mulani 12-2-22-3, Narang 1-0-1-1