RESULT
Wankhede, February 06 - 10, 2013, Irani Cup (2)
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526 & 389/5d
(T:507) 409 & 160/4

Match drawn (Rest of Ind won on 1st innings)

Player Of The Match
134, 71 & 1/14
suresh-raina
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Eighth consecutive title for ROI

Rest of India tightened their hold over the Irani Cup, a trophy they've won for seven straight seasons, by consolidating the dominant position they had reached after gaining a 117-run lead in the first innings

Rest of India 526 (Raina 134, Vijay 116) and 389 for 5 dec (Rayudu 156*, Raina 71) drew with Mumbai 409 (Tendulkar 140*, Rahane 83, Jaffer 80) and 160 for 4 (Jaffer 101*)
Rest of India take the Irani Cup on first-innings lead
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Rest of India won the Irani Cup for the eighth consecutive time, based on a first-innings lead after any hopes of an outright result were erased when their two overnight batsmen came out to bat on the final morning. Suresh Raina struck a half-century to follow up on his ton in the first innings, Ambati Rayudu was unbeaten on 156 before Rest of India declared, and Wasim Jaffer completed his prolific first-class season on a high. Neither featured in India's squad for the first two Tests against Australia, which was picked today.
However, Harbhajan Singh returned to the India squad and picked up two wickets, including Ajinkya Rahane, who has been retained. Mumbai were given 63 overs to chase 507, and Rest of India would have been crying for them to self-destruct if they seriously hoped of winning outright. Both Aditya Tare and Ajinkya Rahane were caught at short leg off Harbhajan, but Jaffer was calm and comfortable at the other end, smoothly moving to another century, his 48th in first-class cricket, and going past 1000 runs in the Irani Cup. Jaffer was a strong contender for an opening role in the Indian squad after averaging 76 in the Ranji Trophy but Murali Vijay and a surprise pick, Shikhar Dhawan, were preferred over him.
Sreesanth, Ishwar Pandey, and Abhimanyu Mithun, aspirants for a place in India's attack, bowled just 11 overs between them without any success, but they didn't have a game as disappointing as another Test hopeful, Rohit Sharma. He had thrown his wicket away in the first innings, top-edging a slog-sweep when on zero, and fell for 1 today, going after India's spin regular Pragyan Ojha but only getting as far as long-off to offer an easy catch. Neither of his dismissals in the game would have sat well with selectors.
The captains called off the game with nine mandatory overs remaining. It was only the second time in the last 14 years that the winner of the Irani Cup has been decided by a first-innings lead.

Siddhartha Talya is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

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