Nagpur: Three times Ranji Trophy champions Vidarbha annexed their third Irani Cup on Sunday with an emphatic win over Rest of India. The Akshay Wadkar-led side thrashed Rest of India by 93 runs to lay their hands on the coveted trophy in Nagpur at Vidarbha Cricket Association’s Jamtha Stadium on Sunday.
Chasing 361, Rest of India were all out for 267, minutes before tea break, making it Vidarbha’s best-ever Irani Cup victory with an outright win. Vidarbha last won back-to-back Irani Cup trophies in 2017- 18 and 2018-19 seasons under the leadership of now retired Faiz Fazal. They won their maiden trophy against the Karun Nair-led Rest of India on the basis of first innings lead and then retained the title against Ajinkya Rahane’s side, again on the basis of first innings lead at the same venue.
Gold Rate
6 Oct 2025
The third title was in sight on the fourth day itself when Vidarbha gave a mammoth target of 361 runs and then reduced Rest of India to 30-2 at the end of the day. Rest of India needed to show their batting skills but barring Yash Dhull (92) and Manav Suthar (56*), there was hardly any notable performance. There was a phase when Dhull had two fruitful partnerships for the sixth and seventh wickets, first with Saransh Jain (29) of 53 runs and then with Suthar of 104 runs which frustrated the home team but the target was too steep to be achieved.
Vidarbha desperately needed a breakthrough as Dhull and Suthar batted for nearly two hours and were looking dangerous. In came pacer Yash Thakur who did the job for the hosts igniting a wild celebration. He fired in a short delivery and Dhull went for an upper cut only to see Atharva Taide grabbing the ‘match-winning’ catch inches inside from the boundary rope. The dismissal was followed by Thakur and Dhull nearly coming to exchanging blows after the former had given the batter a rather rude send-off. Both the umpires and Vidarbha players calmed things separating the two.
The very next delivery, Thakur darted in another peach of a delivery finding new man Anshul Kamboj’s (0) furniture disturbed. Earlier, resuming at the overnight score of 30-2 Rest of India lost captain Rajat Patidar (10) in the fifth over of the morning, returning a simple catch to Aditya Thakare. Darshan Nalkande, who scored a valuable 35 runs on the fourth day, forced another star batter Ruturaj Gaikwad (7) to nick one behind to wicketkeeper Wadkar in his fourth over of the day.
Harsh Dubey, last season’s highest wicket taker in Ranji Trophy with 69 scalps, then got Ishan Kishan (35) who went for a shot over mid-wicket only to find Parth Rekhade collecting an easy catch. The inevitable was delayed by Jain and Dhull who stitched a half-century partnership from 66 deliveries but Rekhade spun his delivery enough to trap the former in front in the 37th over. The batter went for review but the decision went in Vidarbha’s favour.
Dhull meanwhile, continued to hold one end with his gritty batting and along with Suthar took their side near the target. His threatening knock from 117 deliveries had eight boundaries and a six. But his wicket opened the floodgates and Vidarbha cruised home in 73.5 overs.
Scores:
VIDARBHA 1ST INNINGS 342. REST OF INDIA 1ST INNINGS 214. VIDARBHA 2ND INNINGS 232. REST OF INDIA 2ND INNINGS 267.
