At a venue best known for Sachin Tendulkar’s historic double hundred in ODIs — the first in 50-over cricket — another Mumbai batter Yashasvi Jaiswal etched his name in the record books in the longer format of the game on Saturday.
On day four of the Irani Cup at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium, Jaiswal — who had made 213 in the first innings on day one — scored 144 (157b, 16x4, 3x6) in the second to help Rest of India (RoI) set a daunting target of 437 for Madhya Pradesh. With 357 runs, Jaiswal now holds the record for most runs in an Irani Cup match.
The 21-year-old, who was 58 when day four began, looked to be batting on a different pitch as he was unperturbed by the MP pacers who were running through RoI’s middle-order at the other end.
With a gentle breeze blowing across the ground on an overcast day, Avesh Khan and Ankit Kushwah utilised the conditions to reduce RoI to 122 for five. The bowlers stuck to a tight line and restricted RoI to 246 in the second innings.
However, Jaiswal got RoI back on track with an innings of character and skill, his decisive footwork and attractive shot-making standing out. He started with consecutive boundaries in the third-man region off Kushwah before putting his head down as wickets began to fall at the other end.
Jaiswal quickly moved from 89 to 101 off just four deliveries, hitting off-spinner Saransh Jain for three boundaries in an over. After sweeping to the square-leg fence, he whipped the ball off the backfoot past wide long-on and followed it up with a late cut to take him to his second century of the match. RoI finished at 246 in its second innings.
Skipper Himanshu Mantri was unbeaten on 51 as the hosts ended the day at 81 for two. After taking a 190-run first innings lead, RoI will feel it has one hand on the cup.
The scores: Rest of India — 1st innings: 484.
Madhya Pradesh — 1st innings: 294.
Rest of India — 2nd innings: Abhimanyu Easwaran b Avesh 28, Mayank Agarwal lbw b Kartikeya 0, Yashasvi Jaiswal b Jain 144, B. Indrajith lbw b Avesh 0, Yash Dhull c Gawli b Kushwah 0, Upendra Yadav lbw b Kushwah 13, Atit Sheth run out 30, Saurabh Kumar lbw b Jain 0, Pulkit Narang (not out) 15, Navdeep Saini lbw b Shubham 0, Mukesh Kumar st. Mantri b Shubham 0, Extras (b-8, lb-6, nb-2): 16; Total (in 71.3 overs): 246.
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-103, 3-107, 4-108, 5-122, 6-183, 7-196, 8-239, 9-246.
MP bowling: Kartikeya 24-7-48-1, Avesh 12-1-58-2, Kushwah 11-2-44-2, Jain 18-4-56-2 , Anubhav 4-0-17-0, Shubham 2.3-0-9-0.
MP — 2nd innings (Target: 437): Arham Aquil lbw b Mukesh 0, Himanshu Mantri (batting) 51, Shubham Sharma b Saurabh 13, Harsh Gawli (batting) 15; Extras (lb-1, nb-1): 2; Total (for two wkts. in 29 overs): 81.
Fall of wickets: 0-1, 2-51.
Rest of India bowling: Mukesh 7-2-16-1, Saini 4-0-20-0, Sheth 5-1-13-0 , Saurabh 8-0-20-1, Narang 5-0-11-0.
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Jaiswal became the third batter after Shikhar Dhawan (2011 vs Rajasthan at Jaipur) and Hanuma Vihari (2019 vs Vidarbha at Nagpur) to score centuries in both innings of the Irani Cup<extra_leading>
He also became the 12th Indian to score a double-century and a century in a First Class match<extra_leading>
Jaiswal also surpassed Dhawan’s tally of 332 runs in an Irani Cup match
