Irani Cup: Rest of India thwarts Saurashtra comeback to win title by eight wickets

Irani Cup: Abhimanyu Easwaran’s unbeaten half-century helped Rest of India overhaul Saurashtra skipper Jaydev Unadkat’s all-round effort to clinch the title by eight wickets in Rajkot on Tuesday.

The victorious Rest of India team pose with the Irani Cup 2022 title. | Photo Credit: Amol Karhadkar

Kuldeep Sen’s second-five wicket haul and Abhimanyu Easwaran’s breezy unbeaten fifty helped the Rest of India cruise to a convincing eight-wicket win over Saurashtra and stamp its authority on the Irani Cup on Tuesday.

With Sen wiping out the last two Saurashtra wickets in 18 balls, RoI wound up Saurashtra for 380 in its second innings. Despite losing two quick wickets to Jaydev Unadkat’s left-arm pace, Abhimanyu (63*, 78b, 9x4) and K.S. Bharat’s (27*, 82b, 5x4) unbroken association of 81 runs meant RoI overhauled the target of 105 runs 40 minutes after lunch on the fourth day.

When Saurashtra started the day with a lead of 94 and Unadkat unbeaten on 78, it was an uphill task for the home team to set an enticing target. Unadkat started the day on a promising note, steering Sen past point for a four off the first ball of the day.

But Sen got rid of Parth Bhut in the third over of the day with a fuller delivery that seamed into the batter and found Bhut plumb in front of the wickets. In his next over, Unadkat’s extravagant slash off Sen resulted in a nick to Bharat behind the wickets. While Unadkat managed to stretch the target into three digits, he missed his hundred by 11 runs.

For a formidable batting line-up on a pitch that hardly had any demons for batters, it was a matter of when rather than if RoI completed the formalities. Unadkat coerced Priyank Panchal, who had replaced injured Mayank Agarwal during the match, into an edge.

Had Yash Dhull, the promising batter who caressed Chetan Sakariya and Unadkat through covers off frontfoot and backfoot, respectively, not been adjudged lbw when the ball was sliding down the leg side, the game could well have been over before lunch.

However, Abhimanyu played impressive drives close to his body and Bharat made the most of his promotion to seal the deal without further damage.

Despite Sen being the most successful bowler in the match with an eight-wicket haul, Mukesh Kumar was adjudged the player of the match for his four-wicket haul on the first morning that turned out to be decisive.

The scoreboard:

Saurashtra - 1st innings: 98

Rest of India - 1st innings: 374

Saurashtra - 2nd innings: Harvik Desai c Vihari b Saurabh 20, Snell Patel c Sarfaraz b Saurabh 16, Chirag Jani b Sen 6, Dharmendra Jadeja c Abhimanyu b Sen 25, Cheteshwar Pujara c Bharat b Sen 1, Sheldon Jackson c Saurabh b Mukesh 71, Arpit Vasavada lbw b Saurabh 55, Prerak Mankad c Umran b Jayan 72, Jaydev Unadkat c Bhrat b Sen 89, Parth Bhut lbw b Sen 7, Chetan Sakariya (not out) 0. Extras (b-4, lb-10, nb-2, w-2) 18

Total (All out, 103 overs) 380

Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-38, 3-55, 4-57, 5-87, 6-204, 7-215, 8-359, 9-375.

Rest of India bowling: Mukesh 18-6-49-1, Sen 19-2-94-5, Umran 18-5-62-0, Saurabh 25-5-80-3, Jayant 20-3-72-1, Sarfaraz 3-0-9-0. Rest of India - 2nd innings: Priyank Panchal c Patel b Unadkat 2, Abhimanyu Easwaran (not out) 63, Yash Dhull lbw b Unadkat 8, K.S. Bharat (not out) 27. Extras (b-4, w-1) 5

Total (for 2 wkts., 31.2 overs) 105

Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-24.

Saurashtra bowling: Unadkat 11-2-37-2, Sakariya 6-1-23-0, Jani 5-2-3-0, Mankad 2-0-9-0, Dharmendra 6-2-14-0, Bhut 1-0-10-0, Vasavada 0.2-0-5-0.