Mumbai: A fantastic century (127) from Faiz Fazal, followed by a brisk 92 from Karun Nair, a quickfire 54 from Stuart Binny and an unbeaten half century (59) from S Jackson helped Rest of India achieve the third-highest chase in Indian first-class cricket at the Brabourne Stadium as they beat Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai by four wickets in the Irani Cup, here on Thursday. 

The ROI chased Mumbai’s imposing 480 runs. The previous best chase was for the title was in 1982-83, when ROI beat Delhi, chasing 421.
Needing 380 runs on the final day after resuming on 100 for one on the fifth morning, Fazal took the responsibility of holding on to the crease and played with patience. He added 110 with S Chatterjee for the second wicket before the latter was caught and bowled by Iqbal Abdulla for 54. Thereafter, he found an able partner in Karun Nair and the duo went on to add 130 runs for the third wicket before Fazal was caught by Aditya Tare off Abdulla for 127.

After Fazal, ROI lost Nair and Naman Ojha in quick intervals, leaving ROI five down at 353 runs. But Binny and Jackson and different plans and took the attack back to the opposition as they as they scored 88 runs in 16.5 overs to take their team closer to the historic win. Jayant Yadav joined Jackson after Binny’s departure and steered ROI to victory without further loss.

Earlier, Mumbai had dominated the proceedings for the first three days. But Jaydev Unadkat and Jayant Yadav helped skittle them out for 182 in the second innings on the fourth day with a four-for.

Brief scores:

Day 5 – ROI 2nd inn 482/6 in 129.4 overs (F Fazal 127, K Nair 92, S Jackson 59*, S Binny 54, I Abdullah 5/154)
Day 4 – Mumbai 2nd inn 182/10 in 51.2 overs (S Lad 60, S Yadav 49, J Yadav 4/93, J Unadkat 3/16); ROI XI 2nd inn 100/1 in 37 overs (KS Bharat 42, F Fazal 41, I Abdullah 1/19) Need 380 runs to win
Day 3 – ROI XI 306/9 in 99.5 overs (K Nair 94, J Unadkat 48, A Nayar 3/35, J Bista 2/52); Mumbai 2nd inn 2/1 in 0.4 overs (J Bista 1*, J Unadkat 1/2)
Day 2 – Mumbai 1st inn 603/10 in158.2 overs (SK Yadav 156, S Lad 66, A Tare 65, J Yadav 4/132, J Unadkat 2/128); ROI XI 1st inn 36/1 in 16 overs (F Fazal 18*, A Nayar 1/4)
Day 1 - Mumbai 1st inn 386/3 in 83 overs (J Bista 104, A Herwadkar 90, SK Yadav 88*, S Binny 1/35)

Scores: Courtesy: BCCI.tv