Mayank Agarwal’s fighting 95 followed by Hanuma Vihari’s century provided the much-needed support to the Rest of India (RoI) innings on the first day of the Irani Cup on Tuesday. However, Vidharbha outclassed them towards the end of the first day's play. Being on 171 for 2 at one stage, the RoI were bowled out for 330 by stumps.
Opting to bat first, RoI had an early blow as opener Anmolpreet Singh fell within the first ten overs. His dismissal led Vihari at the crease and he stitched a massive 125-run stand for the second wicket along with Mayank Agarwal.
Unfortunately, Mayank missed his century by mere 5 runs as he chipped straight to Yash Thakur and ended up finding Rajneesh Gurbani at the covers. Vidarbha went on to pick up four crucial wickets in the second session.
Vihari survived a scare right in the beginning of his stint as he edged one to the wicketkeeper when he was on zero. However, the umpire’s decision was in his favour which allowed him to anchor the innings. He held the nerves from one but lacked support from the other. Vihari continued to flourish as he took the team past 300-run mark before Sarwate bowled another classical left-armer's delivery that turned away from the right-hander to take the edge.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane's (13) problems against slow bowling continue as left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate (3/99) had another prized scalp in his possession after getting Cheteshwar Pujara twice in the Ranji Trophy final.
Shreyas Iyer (19) and Ishan Kishan (2) failed to contribute, which brought about Rest's downfall. The last two wickets offered some resistance, as Rahul Chahar and Ankit Rajpoot added 25 runs for the final wicket before returning to the dressing room.
Among Vidarbha bowlers, Sarwate got able support from the ambidextrous spinner Akshay Karnewar (1-45) and veteran off-spinner Akshay Wakhare (3-67).
Brief scores:
Rest of India: 330 (Mayank Agarwal 95, Hanuma Vihari 114; Aditya Sarwate 3-99, Akshay Wakhare 3-62) vs Vidarbha.