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Jaipur: It was a waiting game for almost the entire day. A wait for the game to end. Even as Rajasthan struggled to delay the inevitable, there was never any doubt that Rest Of India would win the Irani Cup for the 24th time, sixth on the trot.
Madhur Khatri's 53 lower down the order managed to extend the game beyond tea, but clearly Rajasthan will have to get back to the basics following their 404-run defeat at Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Wednesday. Rest were by far the better side and except for two sessions on the third day, Rajasthan never really looked anywhere close to putting up a resistance.
After the hosts lost two wickets in the first hour of the fifth day, it was just a question of when would the contest end. And when Ashok Menaria played his second poor shot of the match, to be caught behind off a wide delivery from Umesh Yadav, Rest could almost see themselves huddled around the Irani Cup, with photographers clicking away under the bright sun. Khatri's cheeky maiden half-century was for his own satisfaction. He was Varun Aaron's only victim of the match.
With the wicket taking turn, Rest spinner Pragyan Ohja pocketed four wickets in the second innings to take his match figures to nine for 146. Rahul Sharma too picked up a couple, although he wouldn't be too happy with his performance in the match.
"We always had the match in our control," Rest skipper Parthiv Patel said later. "There was no question of playing out the day. We were always had victory in our mind."
For Rajasthan skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar, the Irani Cup showed them where they stand before the Ranji season begins. "We could gauge where exactly we are placed," he said. Clearly, they are not placed where the Ranji Trophy defending champions should be. They would have to address the shortcomings in bowling before they take on Karnataka in their first match of the Ranji season from November 3.
Both the skippers agreed that Pankaj Singh's injury did make a difference.
"His experience would have been useful," Kanitkar said. Patel added that the lanky Rajasthan medium-pacer's absence was one of the reasons why they decided to bat first, despite a greenish tinge in the wicket.
