Vidarbha win Irani Cup with their batting might

It was only three months ago that Vidarbha had become Ranji Trophy champions for the first time, but they were thirsty for more silverware, and their batsmen were greedy for more runs. Over the past week in Nagpur, they amassed a total of 800 for 7 - Wasim Jaffer contributed 286 - and then bowled out Rest of India for 390 to win the Irani Cup as well to ensure their 2017-18 season was an unprecedented success.

Hanuma Vihari and Jayant Yadav stood in the way for a little while. They came to the crease at 98 for 6 with two days of play still left, plenty of time for Vidarbha to pursue an outright result. But they just couldn't get the wickets.

Vihari made a splendid 183 and right alongside him Jayat contributed 96 in a 216-run partnership for the seventh wicket. Left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate finally broke through and finished with 3 for 97 to provide his team with a trophy-clinching lead of 410 runs.

There was still just enough time in the match for a couple of Vidarbha to fill their boots and the game ended with 23-year old opener Akshay Wadkar scoring a half-century. In all, there were 1269 runs scored for the loss of only 17 wickets over five days of play at the VCA stadium.