Karnataka
won the Irani Cup for the fifth time beating Rest of India in the final
held at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on 12 February 2014.
Karnataka beat Rest of India
by an innings and 222 runs to win the trophy.
In
response to Karnataka’s score of 606 in the first innings, Rest of India scored
201 in the first innings and 183 in the second. Shreyas Gopal five wickets haul
including a hat-trick and Skipper’s Vinay Kumar four wickets haul helped
Karnataka comprehensively win the game. The victory made Karnataka the first
Ranji Trophy champion in the last eight seasons to win the Irani Cup, a measure
of the side’s dominance this season. Also Vinay Kumar became the third
Karnataka captain to win both the Ranji Trophy and Irani Cup in a same year. Karnataka
last won the Irani Cup in 1998 at the same venue under Venkatesh Prasad.
Man of the Match: R. Vinay
Kumar
About Irani Cup
The
Irani Cup (earlier called Irani Trophy) tournament was conceived during the
1959-60 season to mark the completion of 25 years of the Ranji Trophy
championship. It was named after the late Z.R. Irani, who was associated
with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from its inception in
1928, till his death in 1970. The fixture is always played between the
previous year’s Ranji Trophy winners and the Rest of India Team.