Ashwin, Chawla Help ROI Win Irani Trophy 2010

Jaipur: Ajinkya Rahane's gutsy 191 went in vain as tweaker duo of R Ashwin and Piyush Chawla shared nine wickets to help Rest of India humble Mumbai by 361 runs and clinch the Irani Trophy title for the fifth consecutive year.

Chasing an improbable target of 782 to win at Sawai Man Singh Stadium, the Ranji Trophy champions were skittled out for 420, thanks to some clinical display by off-spinner Ashwin (5/106) and leg-spinner Chawla (4/113).

Rahane, who hit 30 boundaries, and skipper Wasim Jaffer, who cracked a gritty 88, could only delay the inevitable as both the spinners extracted enough turns and bounce to trouble Mumbai batsmen.

Resuming the day on 79 for no loss, with Sushant Marathe already retired-hurt, the big chase was always difficult as Jaffer and Rahane tried for a draw.

But Mumbai skipper ran himself out when the team total was 146. Rahane, however, continued with his form and reached the three-digit mark after spending 120 balls.

He looked to be well set for the second double ton of the match, after an unbeaten 204 by ROI skipper Yuvraj Singh, but the wickets kept on falling on the other end.

Finally, Rahane was deceived by Ashwin. He played uppishly to short midwicket, where A Mukund took a fine catch to bring the 220-ball innings to an end.

Dhawal Kulkarni (17) and Iqbal Abdulla (12) then frustrated the Rest of India and it appeared that they might avert a defeat.

But with just an over to spare, Kulkarni fell to Chawla and with that it was the end of Mumbai's fight.

After losing the toss, Mumbai was always on the backfoot and their situation became worse when they suffered a 394-run deficit in the first innings of the match, which has seen 1,749 runs being scored in five days.

Brief scores
Rest of India 668 and 387/3 dec
Mumbai 274 and 420 (A Rahane 191, W Jaffer 88; R Ashwin 5/106, P Chawla 4/113).
Result Rest of India won by 361 runs