Hanuma Vihari centuries in vain as Vidarbha beat Rest of India to defend Irani Cup

Ranji Trophy champions Vidarbha won the Irani Cup against Rest of India at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Jamtha, Nagpur on Saturday. Vidarbha emerged winners thanks to their first innings lead as they defended the Irani Cup. They became the third team after Bombay and Karnataka to defend Ranji Trophy and Irani Cup titles.

Vidarbha rode on half-centuries from Atharwa Taide (72) and Ganesh Satish (87) as the match ended in a draw but Vidarbha won on first innings lead. Vidarbha had scored 425 in their first innings in reply to Rest of India's 330.

After a poor start to their chase of 280, Sanjay Raghunath and Atharwa Taide ensured Vidarbha finish Day 4 with 37 for 1. The duo slowly but steadily revived the Vidarbha innings before putting the Ranji Trophy champions in a strong position.

The duo then dominated the Rest of India bowlers and took control of the chase. The two batsmen were going strong before Rahul Chahar struck just before lunch on Day 5 when he trapped Sanjay Raghunath leg before wicket. Raghunath had scored 42 of 131 deliveries.

Raghunath was also involved in a 116-run stand with Taide, who in the process completed his second half-centuy, for the second wicket.

However, that did not stop Taide from playing an attacking game. Taide was joined by seasoned campaigner Ganesh Satish and the duo continued to dominate the proceedings.

Soon after lunch, Chahar struck once again to remove Taide for 72 off 185 balls.

Satish and Mohit Kale then took charge of the chase as the pair added 83 runs for the fourth wicket as Satih completed his 33rd half-century. But the stand was broken when Kale (37) was caught by Tanveer Ul-Haq off Dharmendrasinh Jadeja at the stroke of tea.

With just 11 more required to win, Satish departed and it denied Vidarbha an outright win. The captain of Vidarbha Faiz Fazal and Rest of India skipper Ajinkya Rahane decided to call truce before Vidarbha completed the chase and the match ended in a draw.

Earlier, Hanuma Vihari scripted history by becoming the first player to score a hat-trick of hundreds in the Irani Cup, helping Rest of India set Vidarbha a tricky 280-run target.

Vihari had scored 183 for Rest of India during last year's Irani Cup match against Vidarbha, who recently retained the Ranji Trophy with another exemplary showing.

Besides Vihari's 180, India's Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane made 87 and Shreyas Iyer raced to a 52-ball 61, helping Rest of India to declare their second innings at 374 for three, a day after conceding a big first-innings lead.