Rest of India won the Irani Cup defeating Ranji Trophy defending champions Rajasthan by an innings and 79-run on the fourth day, says a report in The Hindu.
Rajasthan conceded the first innings lead of 354 runs but there was nothing much in the wicket to cause any worry for the batsmen. Rajasthan suffered because of some poor running between the wickets as three of their top six batsmen ran themselves out.
If opener Vineet Saxena and skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar ran themselves out going for non-existent runs when looking well settled, wicketkeeper-batsman Dishant Yagnik ambling for a third run could not beat Umesh Yadav’s throw from deep cover, said the report.
Meanwhile, The Indian Express reports that young left-armer Harmeet Singh finished with four wickets and Pragyan Ojha with two, but it was the run-outs that cost Rajasthan the innings defeat.
Hrishikesh Kanitkar who was involved in two run-outs said, “It was tragic and comic at the same time.”
“Maybe it was a loss of concentration. It has never happened to me in three seasons. It happened here”, said Kanitkar who made a solid contribution of 73.
Kanitkar on young Harmeet said, “Harmeet has the potential, if he does the hard yards, he might reach where he wants to be."
On the innings defeat, The Times of India quoted Kanitkar saying, “Our aim was to make them (RoI) bat again. We wanted to take a lead of around 100 and take it from there."