Railways clinch Irani Cup

Ranji Trophy champions Railways added another feather to their cap, wresting the Irani Cup from holders Rest of India after a five-wicket victory on the fifth and final day of the match in Delhi on Saturday.

Chasing a target of 243 runs with one full day's play in hand, Railways stuck to the task with the dependable Yere Goud, who hit a superb unbeaten 87, scoring the winning runs with a four to long-on in the 71st over, about 45 minutes after tea.

Rest of India, winners of the Cup for the last three years, were left rueing lost chances and an overall mediocre performance.

The team effort, which has seen Railways produce tremendous results in the last couple of domestic seasons, was once again highlighted as the hosts wriggled out of difficulties -- they were three down for 98 at one stage -- to eventually carve out a convincing victory.

J P Yadav did, however, stand out for Railways with his performance with bat and ball. Railways coach Vinod Sharma said though officially there is no man-of-the-match in an Irani Cup tie, Yadav would have been the apt choice.

After helping Railways gain an invaluable 50-run lead with a 104-run knock that saw his side score 316, Yadav produced a brilliant second spell, bowling 17 overs on the trot and scalped six wickets. Rocked by the Yadav juggernaut, Rest were sent packing for 292 in their second knock after scoring 266 in the first.

The Rest side showed its class in patches -- Akash Chopra scored a 92 in the first innings and skipper Yuvraj Singh a 50, Wasim Jaffer scored 116 runs in the second essay and Chopra again contributed a well-made 59.

But that was about all as others simply seemed to go through the motions without any motivation.

As Yuvraj said later, the side missed the services of an additional and experienced spinner and they dropped too many catches.

"Our batting was bad and the middle order just collapsed in both the innings. Our team was decent but we could have performed better," he said.

Railways skipper Abhay Sharma praised Yadav for his all-round effort and admitted it was his six-wicket haul that turned the game in their favour.

The hosts started the day tentatively, losing openers Amit Pagnis for 15 to Sarandeep Singh and Yadav to speedster Tinu Yohannan for 25. They seemed to be in real trouble when Sharma departed for 30, a caught behind ruling which had the skipper showing his displeasure.

But Goud and Jacob Martin (27, 5x4) batted sensibly adding 41 runs for the fourth wicket before the former Baroda captain was caught by wicketkeeper Vijay Dahiya off Yohannan with the total on 139.

It was then the turn of Raja Ali to show his heroics and pull the team out of trouble. He picked Sarandeep for special treatment belting two fours in an over and followed that up with a couple of boundaries in the offies's next over.

Yuvraj promptly took Sarandeep off the attack and brought in Timil Patel, who struck off the very first ball to bring Raja's entertaining knock to an end. Raja (29, 37b, 5x4, 1x6) was caught by substitute A T Rayudu who dived to his left to take a brilliant low catch at mid on.

It was left to Goud, who hit seven delectable fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 152-ball knock, and Shreyas Khanolkar to guide their side to victory which they did in style. Khanolkar remained unbeaten on 18 with two fours to his credit.

Brief Scores:
Rest of India: 266 and 292.
Railways: 316 and 244 for five in 70.2 overs (Yere Goud 87 not out, Raja Ali 29 not out, Abhay Sharma 30, Jacob Martin 27, J P Yadav 25; Tinu Yohannan 2-56).

Mail Cricket Editor