Vidarbha claim maiden Irani Cup title

Extending their dominance on the domestic circuit, Vidarbha clinched their second title of the season as they defeated Rest of India to win Irani Cup on Sunday.

Extending their dominance on the domestic circuit, Vidarbha clinched their second title of the season as they defeated Rest of India to win Irani Cup on Sunday.

Vidarbha piled on 800/7 in the first innings, the highest total by a team in the history of the Irani Cup, before declaring their innings on a penultimate day. Vidarbha later bowled out Rest of India out for 390 on the final day of the encounter.

The western outfit then reached 79/0 before the match was declared a draw, giving Vidarbha their maiden Irani Cup title.

Veteran Indian batsman Wasim Jaffer smashed an astonishing 286 while Apoorv Wankhede (157*) and Ganesh Satish’s 120 helped the Ranji champions post a mammoth total.

Vidarbha pacer Rajneesh Gurbani later ran through the opposition batting lineup, reducing them to 236/6 on Saturday. Gurbani scalped four wickets for 46.

Hanuma Vihari and Jayant Yadav, who had joined hands when RoI were reeling at 98/6, extended their overnight unbeaten 138-run stand to 216 runs.

While Vihari added 102 runs to his overnight score of 81, Jayant was dismissed for 96, adding 34 runs on Sunday.

It was Hyderabad right-hander Vihari's 14th century in first-class cricket.

Left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate claimed the wickets of Vihari, Jayant and Shahbaz Nadeem (15) as Karun Nair-captained RoI were bowled out for 390, falling short of Vidarbha's first-innings total by 410 runs.

Vidarbha decided to bat in the second innings and reached 79/0, with openers Akshay Wadkar (50 not out) and R. Sanjay (27 not out), extending RoI's misery before the match was declared a draw.

Brief scores: Vidarbha: 800/7 declared in first innings (Wasim Jaffer 286, Apoorv Wankhade 157 not out, Ganesh Satish 120; Siddhart Kaul 2/91, Mayank Agarwal 1/21, Hanuma Vihari 1/32) and 79/0 (Akshay Wadkar 50 not out, R. Sanjay 27 not out) vs Vidarbha: 390 in first innings (Hanuma Vihari 183, Jayant Yadav 96; Rajneesh Gurbani 4/46, Aditya Sarwate 3/97) on Day 5. Match ends in draw.