Mumbai Ranji Trophy side in their baackyard was counting the chickens before they were actually hatched and the collective efforts of Rest of India batsmen saw them lifting the Irani Trophy in the end. The successful chase was also the best ever run chase in the Jal Irani Trophy history, bettering Rest’s 424 chasing 421 set by Delhi at the Ferosha Kotla in the year 1982-83. Mumbai was taking everything for granted and 41 times Champion was made to finish as runners up of the prestigious Trophy for the supremacy of Indian cricket. Thus Rest of India hammered Mumbai and made a match of it in the end to the surprise and shock of home crowd. Mumbai Ranji trophy team lost to Rest of India team in spite of having 603 runs scored in 1st innings in Irani Trophy, the highest being 642 scored by Essex VS Glamorgan in English County Championship game in 2004 in a losing cause. It is the 10th highest run chase in all first-class cricket and the third highest successful run chase in Indian first class cricket. 480 plus targets have been successfully chased 10 times. In England and in India it was accomplished three times and in Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and UAE once each. Karun Nair, who played with his heart and soul in this victory was the deserving winner of Man of the match award.
Chitra Krishnan
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
