Rest of India win Irani Cup outright

Rest of India 663 (Dhawan 177, Rahane 152) and 354 for 2 dec (Dhawan 155, Abhinav 154) beat Rajasthan 400 (Bist 93, Parida 85, Menaria 79, Ojha 5-86) and 213 (Khatri 53, Ojha 4-60) by 404 runs

	Shikhar Dhawan with his Player-of-the-Match awards© ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Rest of India completed a 404-run win against Rajasthan on the fifth day of the Irani Cup in Jaipur. Rajasthan began the day with all their wickets intact but Rest of India, who had already won the trophy on the first-innings lead, got rid of the hosts' top order in the morning session to set up the outright win.

Rajasthan's openers had a nervy start. In the second over of the day, Aakash Chopra edged Vinay Kumar but the ball fell short of slip. Vineet Saxena edged Varun Aaron for four soon after. The close calls sent the pair into defensive mode and they played out five maidens. Just when Rajasthan seemed to have safely negotiated the early burst from Rest of India - Saxena guided Umesh Yadav past point, while Chopra drove Aaron through covers - Pragyan Ojha struck. He got Chopra to drive at a flighted delivery and took the edge.

Hrishikesh Kanitkar, the Rajasthan captain, did not last long, edging a bouncy Yadav delivery that was angled into him to wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel. Rest of India struck twice in quick succession again before lunch, with Vinay bowling Saxena and Ojha trapping Robin Bist lbw, to take control of the game.

For a while, Rashmi Parida and Ashok Menaria looked like they would hold off Rest of India like they did in the first-innings. But the resistance was cut short when Menaria lost his composure and went after a short, wide ball from Yadav, only to offer Parthiv another catch. Rest of India continued to knock off the wickets in pairs, as Rahul Sharma - who did not have the best day, spraying the ball around a bit - had Rohit Jalani lbw for a duck. Sharma picked up a couple of wickets after that, though, as Parida holed out and Deepak Chahar had his off stump uprooted.

Madhur Khatri produced the only innings of note for Rajasthan, a boundary-studded 53. Khatri cut and pulled, and managed a few drives down the ground and through the covers, before edging to Abhinav Mukund at third slip. Ojha wrapped up the match two overs later, as Sunil Mathur charged down the track, missed and was stumped. It was Ohja's fourth wicket, to go with his first-innings five-for. Rest of India opener Shikhar Dhawan, who struck two blistering centuries in the match, was named Player of the Match. © ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Ashwin, Chawla bowl Rest of India to huge victory

Jaipur: October 5, 2010 (Cricinfo, espnstar)

R Ashwin and Piyush Chawla shared nine wickets to bowl Rest of India to a crushing 361-run win against Mumbai on the final day of the Irani Cup tie in Jaipur. Ajinkya Rahane's aggressive 191 went in vain as the Ranji champions were bowled out for 420 in the penultimate over. Rest of India, who were already assured of the title after securing the first-innings lead, won the tournament for the fifth straight year.

The spinners came into the game after Wasim Jaffer's run-out for 88. Ashwin bowled a tight line throughout, getting some turn, and lots of bounce, for his eighth first-class five-wicket haul. Chawla got some sharp turn, and mixed googlies with legbreaks to pick the remaining four.

Jaffer, along with Rahane, had begun confidently in the morning. Both were positive in their approach, launching into a flurry of boundaries, as 67 runs came in 13.4 overs. Jaffer was pleasing as ever to watch, driving with minimum effort down the ground. Mumbai had raced to 146 when Shikhar Dhawan's direct hit caught Jaffer short of his ground while attempting a quick single. That was the opening Rest of India needed and thereafter the spinners barged in.

Two overs later, Ashwin almost had Rohit Sharma holing out to mid-on, but Umesh Yadav dropped the chance as it went over his head. Rohit seemed to have settled in well when he was given out leg before to Ashwin, though struck outside the line of off stump while looking to sweep.

Ashwin then got one to turn across Abhishek Nayar's defensive push and hit him plumb in front. Rahane, meanwhile, was in the zone, playing with purpose and hitting fours at will. A pull off Chawla to the midwicket boundary brought up his 14th first-class century.

Ashwin continued to strike, trapping Onkar Khanvilkar leg before with the second ball after lunch, as the batsman pushed outside the line. Ramesh Powar then buckled down to support Rahane, who continued to attack. He was dropped twice after passing 150, once at mid-on off Abhimanyu Mithun and then by Yuvraj Singh at slip off Ashwin, both tough chances. Rahane hit 30 fours and as long as he was there, the draw seemed the favoured result.

At 366 for 4 with less than thirty overs to go, Powar threw it away, dancing down the track to Chawla and getting bowled off the inside edge. Three overs later, Rahane hit Ashwin straight to midwicket to fall nine short of a double century.

In the fourth over after tea, Ashwin picked up his fifth wicket, getting one to turn and bounce sharply past Sushant Marathe, who edged it to slip. Chawla cleaned up Ajit Agarkar in the next over with a quick googly, and Mumbai were going down in quick time.

However, Dhawal Kulkarni and Iqbal Abdulla resisted as they had done in the first innings before Chawla got Abdulla to edge to slip after 12 overs of defiance. With time running out, he then got Kulkarni to guide one to gully, off the first ball of the penultimate over, to set off celebrations among the Rest of India players.