Madhya Pradesh, who had clinched their first ever Ranji Trophy title during the 2021-22 season by defeating the 41-time champions Mumbai in the final, will face the ever-strong Rest of India (ROI) side in the Irani Cup 2023 from today onwards, at the Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior.
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Karnataka’s experienced batter Mayank Agarwal will lead the ROI side, which will also include the likes of Abhimanyu Easwaran, Yash Dhull, Yashasvi Jaiswal et al in the batting department. Chetan Sakariya, Navdeep Saini, Sourabh Kumar and the likes will form the bowling attack.
In-form Sarfaraz Khan, who had scored a century against Saurashtra during the previous edition of Irani Cup in October last year, has unfortunately been ruled out this time around due to a finger injury.
Madhya Pradesh, on the other hand, will be skippered by wicket-keeper batter Himanshu Mantri in the absence of their regular skipper Aditya Shrivastava. Some big names in the side include Rajat Patidar, Venkatesh Iyer, Avesh Khan, Yash Dubey etc.
Irani Cup format
The battle for the Irani Cup takes place immediately post every Ranji Trophy season, in the international Test match format over a maximum of five days. In case the Test match ends in a Draw, the team with a first innings lead is declared the winner.
Organized by the BCCI, whose selection committee also picks the ROI squad, the competition takes place between the incumbent Ranji Trophy winners and the Rest of the India Cricket Team.
The 2022-23 domestic season however, will see two Irani Cup matches take place within a span of five months. The 2019-20 season champions Saurashtra played for the title in October 2022, as the match was forced to be postponed for two years due to COVID-19.
Thus, while it was decided that Saurashtra would rightfully compete for the Cup earlier to the 2021-22 season winners MP, the latter would play for the title at the end of the season from today onwards.
What is Irani Cup in Indian domestic cricket?
Zal Irani, who served as BCCI’s treasurer for two terms – 1928-29 to 1945-46 and 1948-49 to 1961-62, and later as its president in 1966 – was honored by the board by organizing a match for a coveted trophy presented in his name.
It commenced during the 1959-60 edition with the Irani Trophy match taking place at the end of the season. After five years however, it was shifted to the beginning of next season.
