RoI down Mum in historic chase to win Irani Cup

Rest of India displayed collective brilliance as they planned a classic run-chase to perfection against Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai, winning the Irani Cup by 4 wickets reaching a mammoth victory target of 480 runs on Thursday.

Vidarbha’s left-handed opener Faiz Fazal (127) and Sudeep Chatterjee (54) of Bengal held the innings together for the first part while Karun Nair (92), Stuart Binny (54), Sheldon Jackson (59 no) pounced on the opportunity to pulverise a below-par bowling attack taking the team to victory in 129.4 overs. Starting the day at 100 for 1 and needing 380 more runs on the final day to achieve the third-highest successful run-chase in Indian first class cricket history, Rest achieved the target with 20 balls to spare. 

Fazal led the way at the top of the order with a patient 127, his 11th first class hundred, in 280 balls with 10 fours, besides featuring in two century stands 110 for the second wicket with Chatterjee and 130 for the 3rd wicket with Nair, who hit seven boundaries. It was Nair, who got the man-of-the-match award for scoring pair of 90’s. Though Mumbai fought back with left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah (5/154) striking thrice in quick time to pack off this trio of batsmen, and captain Naman Ojha (29) was run out brilliantly, Rest had enough quality batsmen especially the hard-hitting Binny to overhaul target from their tea score of 321/3.