Yashasvi Jaiswal's record-breaking exploits with bat help Rest of India capture 30th Irani Cup title, beat Madhya Pradesh by 238 runs

Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh) [India], March 5 (ANI): A record-breaking batting performance from Yashasvi Jaiswal and brilliant performers from bowlers helped the Rest of India clinch their 30th Irani Cup title by defeating Madhya Pradesh by 238 runs at Gwalior on Sunday.

Chasing a total of 437 runs set by ROI, MP lost their opener Arham Aquil for a duck to Mukesh Kumar, who trapped her leg-before-wicket. MP was 0/1 at that point.

Himanshu Mantri, the skipper and Shubham Sharma joined forces to revive the chase. They formed a 51-run stand for the second wicket and seemed to be in the right direction.

But Saurabh Kumar cleaned up Shubam for just 13 to end the partnership.

Skipper Himanshu reached his half-century, but was dismissed by Navdeep Saini for 51 off 81 balls. MP was 81/3.

Harsh Gawli and Aman Solanki put on a 49-run stand that helped their side cross the 140-run mark. But Atit Sheth and Pulkit Narang cleaned up both for 48 and 31 runs respectively. MP was 151/6.

The rest of MP batting line-up could not put up a fight and the Ranji Trophy 2021-22 champions were bundled out for 198 runs and lost the match by 238 runs.

Saurabh was the pick of the bowlers for ROI, with 3/60. Mukesh Kumar and Pulkit took two wickets each. Navdeep took one wicket.

Earlier, ROI's lead had increased to 436-runs in their second innings after being bundled out for 246 runs. Yashasvi continued his red-hot form, scoring 144 runs in 157 balls, consisting of 16 fours and three sixes. Atit Sheth (30) and Abhimanyu Easwaran (28) were the next two top contributors to the team.

Ankit Kushwah (2/44) was the pick of the bowlers for MP, Avesh Khan, Saransh Jain, and Shubham Sharma also took two wickets each for the side. Kumar Kartikeya ended up with one wicket for MP.

MP was bowled out for 294 runs in their first innings. Yash Dubey (109) was the top-scorer for ROI with the bat, while Saransh Jain (66) and Harsh Gawli (54) also played valuable knocks.

Pulkit was the top bowler for ROI with 4/65, while Navdeep took three wickets, Mukesh took two and Saurabh took a wicket.

But knocks from Yash, Saransh and Harsh did not help MP much as they were trailing by 190 runs against MP.

ROI had registered a massive 484 runs in their first innings, courtesy of a double century from Yashasvi, who scored 213 runs in 259 balls consisting of 30 fours and three sixes. Abhimanyu Easwaran also scored a brilliant 154 runs in 240 balls.

Avesh was the pick of the bowlers for MP with 4/74. Anubhav Agarwal, Kumar Kartikeya took two wickets each.

Yashasvi won the 'Man of the Match' award for his exploits with the bat. He ended up as top-scorer in any Irani Cup match with a total of 357 runs.

Brief Scores: ROI: 484 and 246 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 144, Atit Sheth 30, Ankit Kushwah 2/44) beat MP: 294 and 198 (Himanshu Mantri 51, Harsh Gawli 48, Saurabh Kumar 3/60). (ANI)