Irani Cup Day 1: Hanuma Vihari, Mayank Agarwal lead the charge for Rest of India
Irani Cup Day 1: Hanuma Vihari hit his 16th first-class hundred while Mayank Agarwal made a classy 95 to help Rest of India reach 330 all out at stumps on Day 1 of their Irani Cup match against Ranji Trophy champions Vidarbha.
In Short
- Hanuma Vihari made 114 as Rest of India made 330 all out at stumps on Day 1 of the Irani Cup tie vs Vidarbha
- Mayank Agarwal, who made his Test debut in Australia, scored 95 for Rest of India
- Rajneesh Gurbani, Aditya Sarwate and Akshay Wakhare starred with the ball for Ranji champions Vidarbha
Brief Score: Rest of India (330 all out) vs Vidarbha at stumps on day 1. Hanuma Vihari 114, Mayank Agarwal 95, Akshay Wakhare 3 for 62 and Aditya Sarwate 3 for 99.
Hanuma Vihari hit 114 while Mayank Agarwal made 95 as Rest of India made 330 all out at stumps on Day 1 of the Irani Cup against Ranji Trophy champions Vidarbha in Nagpur. RoI won the toss and opted to bat against a top quality bowling attack which had overcome a formidable Saurashtra in the Ranji final last week.
Rajneesh Gurbani struck early for Vidarbha when he removed Rest of India opener Anmolpreet Singh in the 9th over of the innings. However, Agrwal and Vihari, both Test cricketers, stitched up a 125-run stand for the second wicket to put their team in a position of strength.
But just when it looked like Rest of India were going to push home their advantage, Yash Thakur removed Mayank Agarwal for 95. This was a big wicket in the context of the first day's play. Agarwal had made his Test debut in Australia recently and made an immediate impression with scores of 76 and 42 in Melbourne and 77 in Sydney.
He returned home to play the Ranji Trophy semifinal against Saurashtra for Karnataka and made 2 and 46 in that game.
A calm and composed century for @Hanumavihari against Vidarbha. Rest of India are now 283/7 on Day 1 of the #IraniCup #ROIvsVID
Follow the game here ---> https://t.co/nzIFXjuHhN pic.twitter.com/RI3Bghn7fs BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) February 12, 2019
Agarwal's wicket brought RoI skipper and India Test regular Ajinkya Rahane to the middle. But he lasted only 38 balls before falling to Aditya Sarwate, who had rattled Saurashtra with an 11-wicket haul in the Ranji Trophy final.
Shreyas Iyer looked aggressive in his brief stay but his departure in the 59th over triggered a collapse. Ishan Kishan, K Gowtham and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja were packed off in the next 11 overs before Rahul Chahar offered some resistance and support to Vihari.
Hanuma Vihari played in three of the four Tests in Australia with a highest of 42. He was sent up to open the innings with Mayank Agarwal in the Boxing Day Test and won hearts with a gritty show in the first innings which allowed Agarwal to blossom at the other end.
That Rest of India could cross the 300-run mark and just edge away on the opening day was thanks to Vihari's grit and his skills in batting with No.10 Chahar.
For Vidarbha, Sarwate and Akshay Wakhare stood out with some accurate spin bowling which prevented Rest of India from completely dominating the opening day.