Take on Rest of India in Irani Cup match at Jamtha
By Paritosh Pramanik
October 1, 2025
DEFENDING Ranji Trophy champions Vidarbha will aim to extend their supremacy in domestic cricket when they take on Rest of India in the season opener Irani Cup match at Vidarbha Cricket Association’s Jamtha Stadium from Wednesday.
The Akshay Wadkar-led side, which won their third Ranji title in March at the same venue defeating Kerala on the basis of first innings lead, will be eager to start on a positive note ahead of the new domestic season.
The Rest of India will be led by experienced and seasoned leader Madhya Pradesh’s Rajat Patidar.
Patidar is on a roll while leading sides. He has helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru lift their maiden IPL title and then escorted Central Zone clinch the Duleep Trophy a few weeks ago.
But facing Vidarbha will be all-together different challenge for Patidar as Vidarbha cricketers are high on confidence and have enough matches under their belts after the Ranji title victory.
As many as seven cricketers were part of the title winning Central Zone team while the remaining had a good outing in the Thimmappiah Memorial Trophy in Bengaluru a few days ago. To top it all, last Ranji season’s highest wicket-taker
spinner Harsh Dubey (with 69 scalps) and Yash Thakur have gained a lot of experience while representing India A against Australia A. Vidarbha have match winning batters in Vice-Captain Yash Rathod and Danish Malewar who both showed their batting prowess in Duleep Trophy. Professional Dhruv Shorey, with 4885 First-Class runs under his belt will man the top order along with Atharva Taide (1825) while captain Wadkar (3905) will be an important cog in the middle order.
The bowling department will be spearheaded by pacer Aditya Thakare who has 112 wickets in his bag followed by Dubey with 111 First-Class scalps till date.
Rest of India, too, have some of the top cricketers with Patidar leading from the front. The batter starred for Central Zone slamming two centuries and as many fifties in five innings. His deputy Ruturaj Gaikwad, though skipped the nets session on Tuesday but will be fit to take the field on the morrow and would look to impressing the selectors for the red-ball season ahead.
Ishan Kishan, seamers Khaleel Ahmed and Akash Deep, spinners Tanush Kotian, Saransh Jain are some others in what looks like a strong squad on paper.
All in all Vidarbha hold the edge here at Jamtha Stadium as they have won Irani Cup twice, first in 2017-18 season and then defended the title next year (2018-19).
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It’s going to be a challenging match, says Patidar
By Paritosh Pramanik
Rest of India captain heaped praise on Vidarbha team and said the hosts have several match-winning performers and admitted that it will be a challenging encounter.
“It’s going to be a challenging match. Vidarbha have been an excellent red-ball team and have several experienced players. I’ve played with some of them in the Duleep Trophy, so I know the quality they bring. It won’t be easy, but that’s what makes it exciting.”
Patidar refused to buy the theory of Vidarbha having home advantage and said his experienced side has players who have played all over the country.
“I don’t look at it as an advantage or disadvantage. Yes, they know the conditions better, but players in the Rest of India team have played all over the country and understand different pitches well. So, I don’t think it will be a major factor,” Patidar signed off.
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Our only objective is to win the match: Wadkar
By Paritosh Pramanik
Having won the Ranji title with aplomb, Vidarbha captain Akshay Wadkar wants to extend his side’s dominance with victory in the one-off Irani Cup match starting Wednesday.
Wicketkeeper-batter Wadkar enthused confidence during the pre-match presser and said his side is better prepared as compared to Rest of India and they have only one aim, to win the match.
“The only objective is to win the match. That’s going to be the mindset. Our batting group is in form. Danish, Yash and Dhruv are in very good nick and Harsh and Yash Thakur have arrived from India A responsibilities. I am confident it will be a good match,” said Wadkar.
The Vidarbha skipper said that his side is much better prepared and Rest of India will need time to find right combination.
“Our team-bonding is far better than Rest of India’s since they have grouped from various states of India. It will obviously take some time for them to work out the combinations. We have a slight advantage in this regard,” he pointed out.
Wadkar said Vidarbha will definitely have the advantage while going into the match.
“We have been playing on this very ground for a while now and know these conditions for years. We have played last season’s Ranji matches against Gujarat, Mumbai, Kerala... so we are used to this environment. We will obviously enjoy
the home advantage in that regard,” the Vidarbha captain concluded.
TEAMS: Vidarbha: Akshay Wadkar (C & WK), Yash Rathod (VC), Atharva Taide, Aman Mokhade, Danish Malewar, Harsh Dubey, Parth Rekhade, Yash Thakur, Nachiket Bhute, Darshan Nalkande, Aditya Thakare, Akshay Karnewar, Yash Kadam, Shivam Deshmukh (WK), Praful Hinge, Dhruv Shorey.
Rest of India: Rajat Patidar (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad (VC), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Aryan Juyal (WK), Yash Dhull, Shaikh Rasheed, Ishan Kishan (WK), Tanush Kotian, Manav Suthar, Gurnoor Brar, Khaleel Ahmed, Akash Deep, Anshul Kamboj, Saransh Jain.
Live on JioStar Network.
