Wriddhiman Saha’s stunner, Cheteshwar Pujara’s captain’s innings and other statistical highlights from Irani Cup 2016-17

The 56th edition of Irani Cup ended in the triumph of Cheteshwar Pujara-led Rest of India over the Ranji Trophy champions Gujarat. The match was played at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. Gujarat scored 358 in the first innings thanks to Chirag Gandhi’s impressive 169. Siddarth Kaul took 5 for 86, while Pankaj Singh got 4 for 104. Gujarat impressed with ball as well as they bundled out RoI for 226 and gained a crucial lead of 132 thanks to Chintan Gaja’s 4 for 60 and Hardik Patel’s 3 for 79. In the second innings Gujarat made 246 and set RoI 379. This time Priyank Panchal scored 73, while Kaul took 4 for 64.

Things looked bleak for RoI at 63 for 4. However, captain Pujara dropped anchor at one end thereafter, while Wriddhiman Saha launched a counterattack. They batted till the end, ensuring a 6-wicket win. Saha, who came at the crease after Pujara, scored his maiden First-Class double-ton, while Pujara remained unbeaten on 116. The duo helped RoI win their 27th Irani Cup title. We present some interesting statistical highlights from the contest.

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This is the 27th time RoI side claimed Irani Cup title.

Gujarat, on the other hand, became the 7th team to face defeat in Irani Cup on first appearance after RoI in 1959-60, Bengal in 1990-91, Punjab in 1993-94, Baroda in 2001-02, Uttar Pradesh (UP) in 2006-07 and Rajasthan in 2012-13.

Gujarat were also the 13th Ranji Trophy winner to play in Irani Cup and became the 9th team to lose against RoI.

Saha’s 203* was the 1st double ton by a player in the 4th innings of Irani Cup. In fact, Saha became the 2nd to score a double-hundred in the 2nd innings (after Yuvraj Singh’s 204* in 2010-11).

Saha also scored the 1st Irani Trophy double-century by a wicketkeeper. The previous highest was 179 by Parthiv Patel in 2007-08. This was also Saha’s 1st double-hundred in First-Class cricket.

Saha’s 203 not out was also the highest score by a No. 6 batsman in Irani Cup. Before this match, the record held by Kapil Dev (135 in 1991-92). Interestingly, the record was first broken by Gandhi (169) in the 1st innings.

Obviously, this was the first double ton scored by a No. 6 batsman. All six top positions in the history of the tournament now have at least one double-hundred.

Saha’s average of 92.67 is the best by any wicketkeeper in Irani Cup (qualification: 2 innings). His 278 runs have come from 7 innings, but he had remained unbeaten 4 times. Before this innings, his average was 37.5. Vilas Bandiwandekar is closest to him with his average of 59 from 3 innings.

Pujara’s unbeaten 116 was the 8th-highest score by a RoI skipper. These eight innings are also the only hundreds by RoI skippers in the tournament.

Pujara also became the 15th captain to score a ton in Irani Cup. He also became the 4th captain to score a ton in the second innings of Irani Cup and 2nd from RoI.

Pujara now averages 140 as captain in Irani Cup. This is the best among all captains (qualification: 2 innings). He has scored 280 runs as skipper in Irani Cup from 3 innings. Ravi Shastri (397 at 132.33) comes next.

Pujara also became the 1st ever RoI captain to score 50 and 100 in a single Irani Cup match. On the other hand, six opposition captains have done the same.

Gandhi’s 169 was the 2nd-highest score on a losing cause. The record remains with Ajinkya Rahane (191 for Mumbai in 2010-11).

RoI’s chased down 379. It was the 3rd-highest target successfully chased in Irani Trophy. The top spots are occupied by RoI as well (424 against Delhi in 1982-83 and 482 against Mumbai in 2015-16).

With 453 runs at 50.33, Parthiv is now the leading run-scorer among wicketkeepers in Irani Cup. He went past Nayan Mongia’s tally of 422 runs at 52.75.

This was the 3rd fifty-plus score by Pujara as captain in Irani Cup — joint second-most among captains with Wasim Jaffer, Mohinder Amarnath, Kapil, VVS Laxman and Shastri. The record of 4 is held by Ajit Wadekar. This was also Pujara’s 3rd consecutive fifty-plus score in Irani Cup.

Pujara and Gandhi registered the 6th instance of two or more players scoring 50 and 100 in the same Irani Cup match.

This is also the 9th instance of multiple players crossing fifty twice in the same Irani Cup match.

Do note that there were two Irani Trophy matches in 2012-13.