Rest of India win Irani Cup 2022: Key stats
Rest of India beat Ranji champions Saurashtra by eight wickets at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot, to win the Irani Cup. ROI chased down 105, with Abhimanyu Easwaran leading the charge (63*). Middle-order batter Sarfaraz Khan slammed a match-defining ton for ROI in the first innings. Meanwhile, Chetan Sakariya and Kuldeep Sen took five-fors in the match. Here are the key stats.
How did the final pan out?
Saurashtra perished on 98 after ROI elected to field. Mukesh Kumar took four wickets, while Sen and Umran Malik scalped three apiece. Sarfaraz's ton powered ROI to 374. Skipper Hanuma Vihari too slammed 82. Saurashtra, led by Jaydev Unadkat, bounced back in the second innings, scoring 380. Sheldon Jackson, Arpit Vasavada, Prerak Mankad, and Unadkat slammed tons. ROI chased 105 with ease.
Ranji champions and Rest of India clash in Irani Cup
The latest Ranji champions and the Rest of India feature in the Irani Cup. Although Madhya Pradesh won the Ranji Trophy this year, Saurashtra played the one-off match. The match was scheduled for March 2020 but got postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sarfaraz Khan slams his 10th FC ton
The phenomenal run of youngster Sarfaraz Khan continues. Sarfaraz returned unbeaten on a 126-ball 125* on Day 1. Coming in at 18/3, the Rest of India went on to smash 138 off 178 balls, having fetched 20 fours and two sixes. He raced to his 10th First-Class hundred in style. The right-handed batter stitched a double-century stand alongside skipper Vihari.
Feats attained by Sarfaraz
Sarfaraz has now slammed nine hundreds and five fifties in his last 24 First-Class innings. He hammered over 2,200 runs at an average of over 125 in this period. He smashed 982 runs in the Ranji Trophy and 161 runs in the Duleep Trophy final. As per Mohandas Menon, Sarfaraz now has the second-highest FC career batting average (81.33) after Don Bradman (95.14).
