Ranji Trophy champions from the 2019-20 season Saurashtra couldn’t manage to come back into the Irani Cup match against the Rest of India after being bowled out for 98 in the first innings of the match which was played in Rajkot.
Rest of India captain Hanuma Vihari won the toss and chose to bowl first and Mukesh Kumar’s 4/23 which included the top four of five Saurashtra wickets for single-digit figures rattled the Ranji champions.
Then Kuldeep Sen’s 3/41 and Umran Malik’s fiery 3/25 kept Saurashtra to 98 runs.
In reply, Sarfaraz Khan slammed 138 and Vihari made 82, and with Saurabh Kumar also contributing 55, the Rest of India posted 374 runs in their first do. Chetan Sakariya picked 5/93 for Saurashtra.
In their second innings, Saurashtra did well to post 380 with Sheldon Jackson (71), Arpit Vasavada (55), Prerak Mankad (72), and Jaydev Unadkat (89) doing the bulk of the scoring. Kuldeep Sen added 5 wickets to his haul, while Saurabh Kumar got 3/80.
Set 105 runs to win, Abhimanyu Easwaran’s 63* and KS Bharat’s 27* were enough for the Rest of India to win the match by 8 wickets and lift the Irani Cup.
Mukesh Kumar was named the Player of the Match for his 5 wickets in the match.
Here is how the Rest of India players celebrated their Irani Cup win:
