Link to Scorecard
Rest of India led by Virender Sehwag has won this season’s Irani Cup on virtue of their first innings lead. It was a rain-affected match at the VCA Stadium in Jamtha, Nagpur. Wasim Jaffer’s Mumbai had failed to grab a perfect opportunity having bowled out ROI for just 260 in the first innings. In reply Mumbai collapsed to 230 and thus conceded the crucial first innings lead that proved to be the deciding factor in the end.
Rest of India were carried to a modest total of 260 by the young left hander Ravindra Jadeja who came up with 77. For Mumbai, Ajit Agarkar picked up three scalps with one of them being that of Virender Sehwag (10). In reply, Mumbai could come up with only 230 with Munaf Patel wrecking the innings with a five-wicket haul. Sreesanth did his part by taking three wickets. The top scorer for Mumbai was their Skipper Wasim Jaffer, who made 68.
In their second innings, Rest of India piled up 352 for 4 before rain had the last laugh in the match washing off the fifth and final day. 19-year-old left handed opener Abhinav Mukund scored a sparkling 126. His opening partner and Tamil Nadu team mate Murali Vijay scored a patient 91. Bengal’s strokemaker Manoj Tiwary entertained everyone with an unbeaten 80 from 132 balls.