SAU vs ROI: Sen, Sarfaraz power Rest of India to a thumping victory

Rest of India won by 8 wickets (PC: Twitter)

Rest of India secured an eight-wicket victory over Saurashtra in Irani Cup 2022 on Tuesday (October 4) at Rajkot. 

ROI secure a big lead

ROI's decision to field first worked in their favour as the proficient bowling trio of Mukesh Kumar, Kuldeep Sen and Umran Malik wreaked havoc to bundle out Saurashtra for a total of 98. 

Then, ROI didn't get off to a great start, as they lost Mayank Agarwal, Yash Dhull and Abhimanyu Easwaran in quick succession. It took the partnership of 220 runs between and Sarfaraz Khan (138) and Hanuma Vihari (82)to put the team back on track. 

Then, the contributions from Saurabh Kumar (55) and Jayant Yadav (37) further helped ROI to post 374, and take a daunting lead of 272 runs. Chetan Sakariya was the pick of the bowlers for Saurashtra with five scalps. 

Saurashtra produce a fightback, but ROI prevail 

In the second innings, Saurashtra top-order, including Cheteshwar Pujara failed again to perform as per their expectations. It was the middle-order batters, Sheldon Jackson (71)  and Arpit Vasavada (55), who were impressive to add 117 runs for the sixth wicket. 

Afterwards, the experienced duo of Prerak Mankad (72) and skipper Jaydev Unadkat (89) were imperious to propel Saurastra to a score of 380 on the board. Sen continued his wicket-taking form to finish with five scalps. 

Chasing 105,  ROI batters Priyank Panchal and Yash Dhull were sent back to the hut early by Unadkat. Nevertheless, Easwaran (63*) and Srikar Bharat (27*) took the team home comfortably.

Brief Scores: 

Saurashtra (1st innings) - 98/10

Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 28 (36), Arpit Vasavada 22 (19);
Mukesh Kumar 4/23, Umran Malik 3/25

Rest Of India (1st innings) - 374/10

Sarfaraz Khan 138 (178), Hanuma Vihari 82 (184);
Chetan Sakariya 5/93, Chirag Jani 2/58

Saurashtra (2nd innings) - 380/10

Jaydev Unadkat 89 (133), Prerak Mankad 72 (83);
Kuldeep Sen 5/94, Saurabh Kumar 3/80

Rest Of India (2nd innings)- 105/2

Abhimanyu Easwaran 63* (78), Srikar Bharat 27* (82);
Jaydev Unadkat 2/37

Result: Rest of India won by 8 wickets

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