Rest of India a cut above

Harmeet claims four wickets to hasten Rajasthans end on day four

 Rest of India performed the coup de grace in some style to retain the Irani Trophy, trouncing Ranji Trophy champions Rajasthan by an innings and 79 runs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Monday.

Rest of India’s title victory was a foregone conclusion by the end of the second day itself, and the lone point of interest was that whether they could post an outright victory. The batsmen had given them a perfect platform, building a first innings lead of 354 runs, and it was up to the RoI bowlers to exploit that cushion, and they did it, rolling over Rajasthan for 275.

Ishant Sharma had struck the first blow on Sunday evening, removing Ankit Lamba, and on a wicket that kept a tad low, Rajasthan stood little chance to survive two days to earn a draw. They were not ready to fade away without a fight, at least in the initial part of the day but three run-outs spoilt their chances and then left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh applied the finishing touches with a four-wicket haul to hasten the end.

Resuming from their overnight 43 for one, Rajasthan proceeded to 70 without further loss, and the 66-run stand for the second wicket between skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar, who made a resolute 73, and Vineet Saxena was an indication that Rajasthan wasn’t ready to lay down the arms without a try.

Rest pacers Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav too failed to trouble the Rajasthan batsmen, bowling short and wide. However, a mix-up with Kanitkar resulted in Saxena’s run out, and Rest might have heaved a huge sigh of relief because the right-hander is tough to dislodge once set. But Kanitkar and Robin Bist, who had scored a hundred in the first innings, then joined forces to temporarily thwart Rest’s charge.

Solid self

Kanitkar was his usual solid self, waiting for his chances to score runs, and there were quite of them on the day. Bist, on the other hand, played aggressive cricket, taking the fight to the opposition camp. Rest was way ahead of them, but the two batsmen showed tremendous grit and application to keep a strong bowling unit at bay, and at that stage Rajasthan might have been secretly hoping to live another day to fight.

But another run-out returned to haunt Rajasthan, and this time Kanitkar was the victim, who landed in a yes-no situation with Bist, and S Badrinath did the rest of the job throwing the stumps down from the covers.  Later, Dishant Yagnik too found himself short of the crease, making it three run outs in Rajasthan’s second innings.
Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha soon struck the decisive blow, castling Bist (67) and there onwards it was just a matter of time before RoI bowlers ran through the Rajasthan line-up.

In the first innings, it was Umesh Yadav who did the job, grabbing a five-wicket haul, and this time it was the turn of Harmeet to mop up the Rajasthan tail. The Mumbaikar, who was a part of India’s World Cup winning under-19 team, grabbed an impressive four for 45 as Rest cruised to victory inside four days.