Cheteshwar Pujara to lead Rest of India against face Ranji Trophy 2016-17 champions Gujarat in Irani Trophy

Cheteshwar Pujara to lead Rest of India against face Ranji Trophy 2016-17 champions Gujarat in Irani Trophy

Right after Gujarat’s historic victory in the final of the Ranji Trophy 2016-17, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the 15-man Rest of India squad for Irani Cup 2017. The match will be played at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai from January 20-24. The Rest of India team will be led by Cheteshwar Pujara and consists of other Indian team players like Karun Nair and Wriddhiman Saha. This has been a brilliant season for Gujarat as they are the reigning champions of both Vijay Hazare Trophy, the 50-overs Indian domestic tournament, and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India’s domestic Twenty20 (T20) tournament.

The journey for Gujarat has been extremely fruitful to their maiden Ranji Trophy title. The team played as a unit and different players stepped up in different matches to maintain Gujarat’s dominance in the tournament. However, it was their captain Parthiv Patel’s exceptional performance in the final match that helped Gujarat an outright win to claim the coveted trophy. Parthiv scored 90 in the first innings and 143 in the second that smoothened Gujarat’s way to the victory. Another star performer for the side was bowler Chintan Gaja, who bagged 8 wickets in the final match, 6 of which came in the second innings.

FULL UPDATES: Ranji Trophy 2016-17, Final, Day 5 at Indore

Gujarat’s batting has been the silver-lining of their journey with players like Samit Gohil and Priyank Kirit Panchal playing gigantic knocks. Mumbai lost a final for the first time since the 1990-91 season of Ranji Trophy. However, they put up a good performance throughout the season with Abhishek Nayar helping both with bat and ball. Another find for them has been the 17-year-old Prithvi Shaw.