In a match that saw four centuries being scored, it was the bowling unit that ensured Rest of India defeated Madhya Pradesh by 238 runs to retain the Irani Cup at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior on Sunday. Yashasvi Jaiswal set the tone with the bat for RoI, scoring 357 runs over two innings.

Chasing a massive 437 for victory, MP were bowled out for 198 in 58.4 overs as the match ended during the opening session of the fifth day. MP were 81/2 at stumps on the fourth day, requiring 356 on the final day to win their first Irani Cup. Mukesh Kumar, Atit Sheth, and Pulkit Narang each had two wickets in addition to Saurabh Kumar’s three.

In the morning, Madhya Pradesh’s skipper Himanshu Mantri (51), was on the receiving end of a rather harsh decision even as he hadn’t actually struck one behind the stumps. First-innings centurion Yash Dubey got a lethal in-cutter from Mukesh Kumar and following that, Harsh Gawli (48) and Aman Solanki (31) had mustered a fight but MP lost wickets frequently and were unable to recover.

Earlier, Jaiswal’s near-flawless 144 in the second innings had put the Rest of India in the driver’s seat. In the first innings, he scored 213 and was ably supported by opener Abhimanyu Easwaran (154), with whom he shared a triple hundred plus stand.

Have a look at the scorecard from the match.