Back-to-back Ranji Trophy winners Vidarbha displayed their champions spirit to their best as they fight their way back into the game against Rest of India towards the latter half of day one of the Irani Cup. Rest of India were cruising on 231/3 before they collapsed due to an impressive performance by Vidarbha spinners which reduced them to 258/7 at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur. Ultimately, the visitors were bowled out for 330 in the last over of the day.

A classy 95 from opener Mayank Agarwal set the tone for the ROI team led by Ajinkya Rahane before Hanuma Vihari scored his 16th First-class Test century. After losing Anmolpreet Singh early on in the innings, Agarwal and Vihari steadied the chip for the visitors. However, a brilliant bowling display from Akshay Wakhare and Aditya Sarwate, who bagged three wickets each, tore apart the ROI’s middle-order one after the other. A fighting effort at the end of the day from tailenders Rahul Chahar and Ankit Rajpoot guided Rahane’s team to a respectable total of 330 at the end of day one.