Irani Cup 2023 : India Beat Madhya Pradesh To Win Irani Cup

While India crushed Madhya Pradesh by 238 runs to win the coveted Irani Cup here on Sunday, the rest of their bowling unit worked flawlessly. MP were bowled out for 198 in 58.4 overs as the match came to a conclusion in the first session of the fifth day, falling short of their very impossible 437 target. The current Border-Gavaskar Trophy pitches have come under fire for being allegedly result-driven and poorly prepared, but the Gwalior track was a throwback to the days when assistance was available for every aspect of the game. 40 wickets were lost during the game, four tonnes were made, and both pacers and spinners had an equal impact. The MP second innings is a good example, as the pacers and spinners each split five wickets. Although off spinner Pulkit Narang (2/27) and left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar (3/64) took advantage of the deteriorating surface to clean up the lower middle-order and tail, seamers Mukesh Kumar (2/34), Atit Sheth (2/37), and Navdeep Saini (1/34) destroyed the top-order of the MP side. MP captain Himanshu Mantri (51) received a rough deal from umpire Rohan Pandit in the morning because he raised his finger even though the batsman hadn't actually struck one beyond the wickets. As first-innings centurion Yash Dubey received a devastating cutter from Mukesh Kumar and was destroyed as a result, MP lost wickets at regular intervals. The bowlers from the Rest of India didn't waver in their ferocity, and MP didn't stand a hope in hell of coming close to a match.

Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored 357 runs across two innings (213 and 144) for the RoI squad, which is primarily made up of Indians, was the game-changer. After the game, Jaiswal commented, "If I had stayed undefeated (on Day 1), I would have earned a 300, and that would have been great. A triple-hundred plus stand was shared with opener Abhimanyu Easwaran (154), whom he commended. The southpaw remarked, "I had an experienced partner in Easwaran, and it was fantastic to bat with him," during the post-game awards ceremony. Another encouraging indicator was how quickly Navdeep Saini bowled 29 overs over the course of two innings. Moreover, Easwaran demonstrated why he is one of the top Gen-Next openers. The only thing that draws criticism is his failure to perform for Bengal under duress. During the course of the three red ball seasons, Bengal has played eight knockout games (quarterfinals, semifinals, and final), but the potential Team India member failed to make an impact in the games that counted.