Vidarbha join elite company after defending Ranji Trophy and Irani Cup

Vidarbha on Saturday became only the third team in Indian domestic cricket history to defend the Ranji Trophy and Irani Cup.

The defending champions defeated Rest of India by virtue of their first innings lead on the fifth and final day of the match in Nagpur to retain the Irani Cup that they had won last year.

Needing 280 for victory in the final innings, Vidarbha reached 269 for 5 before Rest of India captain Ajinkya Rahane decided to shake hands with his counterpart Faiz Fazal as the match ended in a draw but Vidarbha's first innings lead of 95 runs proved to be the decisive factor.

Before Vidarbha, only Bombay and Karnataka had managed to retain the 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.