Vaibhav Tripathi in Nagpur
Defending Ranji Trophy champions Vidarbha secured their third Irani Cup title by defeating Rest of India by 93 runs on the fifth day at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium in Jamtha, Nagpur. In front of their home fans, the Akshay Wadkar-led Vidarbha lifted the Irani Cup trophy for the first time since 2019.
The final day was set up beautifully, with Rest of India needing 331 runs while Vidarbha required eight wickets. Yash Dhull fought a lone battle with his 92. His 104-run partnership with Manav Suthar gave the hosts a scare, but Yash Thakur not only broke the partnership but also denied Dhull his century.
Had he received support from others, the result could have been different.
With the likes of Rajat Patidar, Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad in the side, Rest of India had a realistic chance of chasing the target. The first session of the day was crucial and proved decisive, as the visitors lost Patidar, Gaikwad and Ishan in quick succession, allowing Vidarbha to take complete control of the game. Patidar, attempting to hit Aditya Thakare straight back over his head, was dismissed. The tall pacer took a brilliant return catch to give his team a perfect start to the day.
Vice-captain Ruturaj Gaikwad walked in as Darshan Nalkande was in the middle of a great spell. The right-arm pacer looked in rhythm and found a hint of reverse swing. A tentative push was all that was needed as Nalkande found the outside edge of Gaikwad’s bat.
Wadkar then brought Harsh Dubey from the other end. After blunting the pacers in the first hour, Ishan fell to a well-set trap. Harsh floated one up right in the slot, inviting the big shot, and Ishan hit it straight to Parth Rekhade’s hands. That shot was ill-advised, especially knowing the team had lost two important wickets early on.
First, Dhull combined with Saransh Jain, and later with Manav, to show that while there were rough patches on the pitch, batting wasn’t difficult. It wasn’t a minefield. With the field spread out, both Dhull and Saransh comfortably rotated the strike while finding the fence regularly. Just as the partnership started looking threatening, Parth provided the breakthrough by trapping Saransh in front of the stumps.
Four wickets fell in the first session, and it looked like Vidarbha would wrap up the game soon. However, this did not happen, courtesy of a lower-order fight from the Rest of India.
Dancing down the track and hitting a boundary in the first over after lunch, Yash made his intentions clear. The right-handed batter soon reached his fifty. Decisive footwork against both spin and pace was the standout feature of his innings. In the second session, Dhull changed gears and began playing his shots more frequently.
Manav, on the other hand, was happy to simply rotate the strike. At the end, he played a few shots to reach the 50-run mark. The target came down to less than 150. Heads started to drop in the Vidarbha camp. Out of nowhere, Thakur, who had leaked many runs earlier in the day, took two wickets in two balls to virtually seal the game for his team. Atharva Taide held his nerve and took a brilliant catch to dismiss Dhull on the boundary line. An on-field altercation with Dhull charged up Thakur. The on-field umpires warned him, and what followed was a yorker that uprooted Anshul Kamboj’s stumps. After that, it was just a mere formality for Vidarbha to take the remaining two wickets.
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