Mukesh Kumar's 6-33 bowls Rest of India to a 167-run Irani Cup win in Srinagar

Rest of India won the Irani Cup in Srinagar on Sunday, Mukesh Kumar's six-wicket spell bowling Ranji Trophy champions Jammu and Kashmir out for 111 and sealing a 167-run win

Jammu and Kashmir needed 279 to win the trophy on their first appearance in the fixture, and at 89 for 3 after lunch on the fourth day at the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium they were still in the contest. An hour or so later the match was over.

Mukesh Kumar took 6-33 and Akash Deep 3-25 as the home side were dismissed for 111 in 28.4 overs, giving Rest of India victory by 167 runs with a day to spare.

It completed a recovery from a first-innings deficit of 41, and it was built on Ravichandran Smaran's unbeaten 135 in the second innings, which won him the player-of-the-match award.

Nine wickets for the seamers

Mukesh Kumar found late movement and a fuller length on the final morning and afternoon, and at one stage took three wickets in four deliveries. It was the eleventh five-wicket haul of his first-class career.

Akash Deep, back in the side after recovering from a lower-back stress injury, worked away at the other end for 3-25. Between them the two seamers took nine of the ten wickets to fall.

A collapse after lunch

Jammu and Kashmir had begun the chase steadily, their openers putting on 54. Shubham Khajuria made 36 and Qamran Iqbal 32, and the required runs did not look out of reach.

Khajuria's dismissal in the afternoon session changed it. Six wickets went down for 22 runs in nine overs, and an innings that had promised a famous home win lasted only 28.4.

Smaran's 203 runs in the match

Smaran had made 68 off 83 balls in the first innings. His second-innings 135 not out came from 153 balls and carried 16 fours and five sixes, and it dragged Rest of India from a position where the match was slipping away.

Sanat Sangwan made 55 in the same innings, and Sahil Lotra took 3-71 for the hosts, but it was Smaran batting with the lower order that turned a modest lead into a target.

His 203 runs across the two innings were the most by any batter in the match.

Pant watches from the dugout

Rishabh Pant, who captained Rest of India in the match, sat out the final day with a fever, and Sarfaraz Khan led the side in the field as the game was won.

Pant said the bowling plan had been reworked between innings. "We wanted to correct that in the second innings because we knew our bowlers were really good, but the problem was the first innings we bowled too much back of the length," he said.

"When you come up with a plan and you stick to it and you can see things happening, it's lovely to see," he added. Asked about his own week, he said: "When you win, all the pain, all the fatigue goes away for sure."

Pant turned 29 on the day the trophy was won.

A first Irani Cup for Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir earned the fixture by winning the Ranji Trophy, and this was their first appearance in the Irani Cup. Srinagar staged it.

They had made the better start. Captain Paras Dogra's 75 and Abdul Samad's 57 took them to 278 in the first innings, and Lone Nasir Muzaffar's 64 from 58 balls down the order gave them the lead.

None of it counted for much once the new ball started moving on the fourth day.

Scorecard: Rest of India 237 and 319 in 99.5 overs (Ravichandran Smaran 135*, Sanat Sangwan 55; Sahil Lotra 3-71) beat Jammu and Kashmir 278 and 111 in 28.4 overs (Shubham Khajuria 36, Qamran Iqbal 32; Mukesh Kumar 6-33, Akash Deep 3-25) by 167 runs.

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