Sarfaraz Khan continued his otherworldly run of form with a brilliant century and spells from pacers Kuldeep Sen and Mukesh Kumar helped the Rest of India defeat Saurashtra by eight wickets in Rajkot to clinch the Irani Cup on Tuesday.
After the trophy presentation, Rest of India captain Hanuma Vihari presented the trophy with Mumbai batsman Sarfaraz Khan as the team celebrated the win.
The Rest of India side has captured its 25th title by defeating Saurashtra, the winner of 2019-20 Ranji Trophy. Saurashtra was bowled out for just 98 runs in the first innings. ROI replied with a powerful 374 in their first innings, which gave them the lead of 276 runs in the match. Saurashtra was bundled out for 380 in their second innings. They gained a lead of 104 runs, translating into a 105-run target for ROI, which was chased down comfortably.
Chasing 105, Jaydev Unadkat's impressive pace bowling dismissed Priyank Panchal for just 2. ROI was 14/1 at this point. Unadkat trapped Yash Dhull next, for just eight runs to restrict his opponent to 24/2.
Then, Abhimanyu Easwaran, who was out for duck in previous innings, joined forces with Srikar Bharat. The duo stitched an 81-run stand to guide ROI to a victory by eight wickets. Easwaran scored 63* off 78 balls with nine fours, while Bharat scored an unbeaten 27* off 82 balls and kept one end steady.
Unadkat's 2/37 went in vain as Saurashtra failed to win the trophy.
