Railways secure Irani Trophy with five-wicket win

An unbeaten 87 from the reliable Yere Goud and handy contributions from the rest of the batting order helped Railways secure the Irani Trophy with a five-wicket win over Rest of India at the Karnail Singh Stadium on Saturday.

The Ranji Trophy champions, who began the day chasing 243 for an outright win, lost Amit Pagnis (15) with the score on 27. With Jai P Yadav, their star performer in the match, also falling after making just 25, the Railways desperately needed a good stand.

Their wish was granted when captain Abhay Sharma and Goud got together to add 53 runs for the third wicket before Sharma fell for 30.

Goud batting with increasing assurance, then, forged useful partnerships with Jacob Martin (27), Raja Ali (29) and Shreyas Khanolkar (18*) to help the Ranji Trophy champions to add the Irani Trophy too to their kitty. The 30-year-old Goud's 152-ball unbeaten knock was studded with seven boundaries and two sixes.

For Rest of India, medium-pacer Tinu Yohannan, who claimed two wickets, claimed two wickets while spinners Sarandeep Singh, Timil Patel and Satrajit Lahiri claimed one each.