Irani Cup

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2019

Vidarbha retains Irani Cup

February 17, 2019: The Times of India

Before the Irani Cup, Atharva Taide (72, 185b, 8x4. 1x6) had wasted quite a few starts. For him, it was more of a case gifting his wicket away rather than making bowlers work for it.

The 18-year old showed he has learned from his mistakes. Taide played 185 balls and stayed at the wicket for 215 minutes — the most in five first-class matches he has played so far. His knock proved crucial in helping Vidarbha draw the match against Rest of India and retain the Irani Cup.

The left-hander combined with opener Sanjay Ramaswamy o bat out the first session with utmost patience and showed enough application during their 116-run second-wicket stand.

When Taide got out after lunch, Ganesh Satish anchored the innings with a classy 87 (168b, 9x4, 1x6) to put Vidarbha on verge of an outright victory on the last day of the Irani Cup. With 6 overs left, Vidarbha needed just 11. Rest of India (ROI) skipper Ajinkya Rahane introduced Hanuma Vihari into the attack for the first time. Vihari bowled a long hop but Satish couldn’t take advantage and hit it straight to Sandeep Warrier at deep mid-wicket.

Allrounder Aditya Sarvate walked to the middle but skipper Faiz Fazal surprisingly signaled for a draw when Vidarbha were 265-5. Rahane obliged as players of both teams made the customary hand shake. Vidarbha had already secured the Irani Cup with an innings lead. The defending champions needed to bat out the last day. They did it with aplomb to retain the title. An outright victory would have been icing on the cake but Vidarbha team management had their reasons.

“The important thing was to win the cup that we had already achieved, so we didn't go for outright result. We were waiting for Ganesh’s century but unfortunately that didn’t happen. But happy to have won the cup,” Faiz told reporters after their victory.

The game could have gone either way when play began on the last day. Though the Jamtha wicket didn’t deteriorate that much, there was enough for the spinners to exploit. Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar and left-arm spinner Dharmendra Jadeja bowled well but the pair of Taide and Ramaswamy was up to the task.

Both used the crease well and were not afraid to come down the track or to sweep the spinners. Though Taide took two fours off pacer Ankit Rajpoot’s over, he wasn’t in control.

However, there was no problem with the cut against Chahar. Later, he lofted him over deep mid-wicket for a six. Till then, Sanjay was keeping quiet. Soon, he too got going and lofted Jadeja for a straight six.

Brief scores: Rest of India 330 and 374/3 declared drew with Vidarbha 425 and 269/5 (Ganesh Satish 87, Atharva Taide 72, Sanjay Ramaswamy 42, Rahul Chahar 2-116, Ankit Rajpoot 1/41)