The Irani Cup kicked off with a gigantic clash between the defending champions of the Ranji trophy which was Vidarbha who took on the Rest of India in an exciting contest. Vidarbha won the toss and elected to bat first in order to put up a formidable total on the board. The responsibility was taken up by the openers Atharva Taide and Aman Mokhade.
While Aman Mokhade was dismissed for 19 runs by Akash Deep, the entire show was stolen by the other opener Atharva taide who stood his ground and kept on playing beautiful cricketing shots, paving the way for the team to reach their desired total. At the end of Day 1, Taide scored a total of 118 runs in 240 deliveries, in which he scored a total of 12 boundaries at the strike rate of 49. However, on the other hand
wickets kept falling for Vidarbha failing to generate a partnership.
Vidarbha put up 280 runs losing five wickets on Day 1
It was Yash Rathod who assisted Atharva Taide in his quest to steady the ship and built a respectable partnership with the opener. At the end of the day, Rathod scored a total of 91 runs which helped the team to reach 280 runs following the end of day 1. Vidarbha have also lost most of their batsmen as they are five wickets down on day 1.
It was magical spells by Akash Deep and Manav Sutar which provided crucial breakthrough wickets for the team. However, the main threat of Atharva Taide still remains for the Rest of India as they will be keen on dismissing him as soon as possible. It will be interesting to see which team gains the advantage on the second day.
