The Irani Cup 2023, which was played between the Ranji Trophy champions Madhya Pradesh and the Rest of India team at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior, ended with a convincing victory for the latter by an innings and 239 runs on the fourth day .
The Rest of India team, led by Mayank Agarwal, dominated the match from the start, posting a mammoth total of 726 for 7 declared in their first innings. The star performers for them were opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored a brilliant double century (213 off 281 balls), and middle-order batsman Abhimanyu Easwaran, who made a fluent 154 off 195 balls. The duo added 371 runs for the second wicket, breaking several records along the way . The Madhya Pradesh bowlers had no answer to their onslaught and could only manage two wickets on the first day.
The Rest of India bowlers then took over and skittled out Madhya Pradesh for a paltry 98 in their first innings. Navdeep Saini and Mukesh Kumar shared six wickets between them, while Chetan Sakariya and Atit Sheth chipped in with two each. Only Venkatesh Iyer (28) and Ankit Sharma (25) showed some resistance for Madhya Pradesh.
Following on, Madhya Pradesh fared slightly better in their second innings but still fell well short of making Rest of India bat again. They were bowled out for 389, with captain Himanshu Mantri scoring a fighting century (102 off 184 balls). He was supported by Rameez Khan (72) and Ishwar Pandey (51), who added some valuable runs down the order. However, Saurabh Kumar was the pick of the Rest of India bowlers with four wickets, while Pulkit Narang took three.
This was Rest of India's 30th title in Irani Cup history and their first since 2018-19. They also avenged their defeat to Madhya Pradesh in last year's final at Rajkot. Mayank Agarwal lifted the trophy amid jubilant scenes and praised his team-mates for their outstanding performance.
"This is a very special moment for me and my team. We played as a unit and showed our class against a very good Madhya Pradesh side. I am proud of everyone who contributed to this win," he said at the post-match presentation.
Madhya Pradesh skipper Himanshu Mantri congratulated Rest of India on their win and admitted that his team was outplayed in all departments.
"We have to give credit to Rest of India for playing such brilliant cricket. They batted superbly, bowled aggressively and fielded sharply. We tried our best but we were not up to the mark. We have learnt a lot from this match and we hope to come back stronger next time," he said.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was adjudged as the player of the match for his double ton that set up Rest of India's huge total. He thanked his captain and coach for backing him and said that he enjoyed batting with Abhimanyu Easwaran.
"It feels great to score a double hundred in such an important match. I want to thank Mayank bhaiya (brother) and Vikram sir (coach) for giving me confidence and freedom to play my natural game. Abhimanyu bhaiya is a very experienced player and he helped me a lot during our partnership," he said.
The Irani Cup is an annual first-class cricket tournament organised by BCCI since 1959-60 season. It is played between Ranji Trophy champions (Madhya Pradesh this year) vs Rest Of India Team which includes players from other states' Ranji teams. It is named after Zal R Irani who was associated with BCCI from its inception till his death.