Just over two months after claiming their maiden Ranji Trophy title, Vidarbha clinched the Irani Cup too, defeating Rest of India on the innings lead at the VCA stadium in Jamtha, Nagpur on Sunday (March 18).
Wasim Jaffer was named the man of the match for his game-defining 286 in Vidarbha’s first innings. Electing to bat, Vidarbha put up an overwhelming 800 for 7 before declaring their innings closed. Rest of India were reduced to 98 for 6 in their response before G Hanuma Vihari and Jayant Yadav staged a rescue act of epic proportions.
Having guided Rest of India to 236 for at stumps on the fourth day, the seventh-wicket alliance continued to call the shots on the final day as they extended their alliance to 216 runs and took the tally past 300. Rest of India were eventually bowled out for 390 in 129.1 overs with Vihari finishing on a mammoth 183 from 327 balls and Jayant closing out on 96.
With a 410-run lead on their back, Vidarbha sent out their batsmen once again for another go at the RoI bowlers. Sanjay Ramaswamy and the promoted Akshay Wadkar finished unbeaten on 27 and 50 respectively and the hosts reached 79 for no loss when the captains decided to shake hands and put an end to the meaninglessness.
RoI could have been staring at an innings defeat were it not for Vihari and Jayant. Despite Rajneesh Gurbani baying for blood after his four-wicket spell early in their innings on Saturday, Vihari and Jayant staved off the paceman and kept the others at bay too.
Starting the final day unbeaten on 81 and 62 respectively, Vihari and Jayant remained unmoved for the entire first session. Jayant was eventually dismissed in the post-lunch session, stumped off Aditya Sarwate (3/97). His 96 spanned 230 deliveries, 14 of which were hit to the fence. The left-arm spinner accounted for Vihari too, but the Andhra skipper had by then added 102 runs to his overnight tally, and was the last wicket to fall. In all, Vihari negotiated 327 deliveries, smacking 23 fours and three sixes. Umesh Yadav returned 2 for 72 in 27 overs to complement Gurbani (4 for 70).
Without an outright result not even in the realms of his imagination, Faiz Fazal, the Vidarbha skipper, opted to rest his bowlers. Rest of India sent down 26 overs, in addition to the 226.3 they bowled in the first innings, when play was finally called off.
The Irani triumph capped off a season of plenty for Vidarbha. Apart from the Ranji Trophy, their Under-19 team had also claimed the Cooch Behar Trophy in January.