So,the domestic season of cricket in India started with Rest of India clashing with Rajasthan for Irani Trophy.Rajasthan became the Ranji Trophy champions in 2010 and interestingly they were the first to win it after coming straight down from the Plate Division.This was certainly a big achievement.Coming back to the match,when i am writing these lines the first 3 days of the match have been played and it is standing in an interesting mode although Rest of India is in a commanding position.I was keenly following the match and suddenly it inspired me to prepare a write up regarding Irani Trophy.
The stupendous success of Rajasthan in 2010 Ranji Trophy can be analyzed separately in a separate work.But here,I will discuss the antecedents and the subsequent journey of Irani Trophy.
Irani Trophy was started in 1959-60 in the name of ZR Irani-the then treasurer of BCCI and a keen patron of the game.It was started to commemorate the completion of 25 years of Ranji Trophy Championship.Mr. Irani was associated with BCCI from 1928- the year of its inception till his death in 1970.
Irani Trophy is always played between the previous years Ranji Trophy winners and The Rest of India Team.Since 1965-66 Irani Trophy is heralding the domestic cricket season of India while earlier it was conducted during season's end.National selectors always await this event along with various ardent cricket lovers.
1st Irani Trophy match was played in 1960 between Bombay and Rest of India at historical Firozshah Kotla Grounds in Delhi.Bombay triumphed the inaugural event by virtue of first innings lead.In this match only Polly Umrigar of Bomaby scored 102 runs and became the 1st player to hit a ton in Irani Trophy.The first 5 wicket haul was also witnessed by this match when Jasu Patel playing for Rest of India showed the impressive figures of 5-98 in 23 overs.This historical match also witnessed an unprecedented and interesting event when 12th man of Rest of India Team Prem Bhatia was allowed to bat in team's second innings in place of skipper Lala Amarnath.
Highest score in an innings in Irani Trophy has been made by Rest of India against Bengal at Bengalore in 1990-91 when they scored a massive 757-7.
Rest of India has the tag of the team scoring lowest total in an innings too.They crumbled to a mere 83 against Bombay at Anantpur in 1963-64.
Highest individual score has been made by Pravin Amre.He scored a mammoth 246 against Bengal playing for rest of India in 1991.Gundappa Vishwanath is the only player to reach the magical figures of 1000 runs.He has scored a total of 1001 runs in 9 Irani Cup matches.
Murali Karthik's magical spell of 9-70 playing for Rest of India against Mumbai at famous Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in 2000-01 has placed him in the special position of best performance by a bowler in an innings.Anil Kumble has the same honour of best performance in bowling in a match when he took 13-138 for playing for Rest of India against Delhi in 1992-93.This performance by Kumble made possible his comeback in the Indian squad and is therefore cherished and remembered by him at various occasions.
Irani Trophy has been won most number of times by Rest of India.They have won it 23 times followed by Mumbai which has won it 15 times.Will this year add another number on Rest of India's part or will Irani Trophy get a new champion?
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