The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) organises the Irani Cup during the Indian domestic cricket season. The contest takes place at the start of the season in First-Class format.
The interesting part is only 2 teams participate in the Irani Cup in a one-off match, with the winner taking home the trophy.
So what’s the format of the Irani Cup? Which teams qualify for the match? And how is the winner decided?
Here, we’ll look at the Irani Cup format, along with participating teams and the result system. (Before that, take a sneak peek at the Irani Cup’s brief history here.)
Irani Cup Format
The format of the Irani Cup is pretty straightforward. As mentioned above, it’s a First-Class match.
So the one-off Irani Cup match follows the playing conditions of a First-Class match or an international Test match.
The prestigious match spans over 5 days. In the past, the match days varied between 3, 4, and 5.
The playing days are split into 3 sessions, with the first session taking place between 9:30 am and 12 pm. A lunch break of 40 minutes follows soon after the first session.
The day resumes with the second session from 12:40 pm to 2:40 pm. After a 20-minute tea break, the third session takes place from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm.
Just like a Test match, each day sees a minimum of 90 overs, with a minimum over rate of 15 overs per hour.
Each team bats in 2 innings in the match if there are no unforeseen interruptions in the game.
Which teams qualify for the Irani Cup?
The Irani Cup match takes place between 2 teams. One of the teams is the Rest of India, which is selected by the senior selectors of the BCCI. While the other team qualifies to play the Irani Cup match by winning the Ranji Trophy.
What is the result system in the Irani Cup?
If one of the teams wins the match outright, they claim the Irani Cup. But if the match ends in a draw, then the team that ensured the first innings lead wins the Irani Cup.
And if the match doesn’t garner any result, like both teams couldn’t complete even 1 innings each or the match gets abandoned, then both teams share the trophy.
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