The Irani Cup 2026/27 concluded on Sunday with the Rest of India defeating the reigning Ranji Trophy Champions, Jammu and Kashmir. After the match, two India National Cricket Team cricketers, Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant, who are best friends, were seen celebrating as the former lifted the ROI captain after their victory.
Rishabh Pant has been struggling for form and has also been dropped from the vice-captaincy role in the Test team. The Southpaw would like to make a strong comeback, as he had a decent series against the Sri Lanka National Cricket Team in Sri Lanka. He has also been overlooked in the white-ball side despite not being given much of a chance.
Watch: Sarfaraz Khan lifts Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant, who did not take the field on October 3rd due to fever, was not in the match, with Sarfaraz Khan captaining the side; as Mukesh Kumar delivered the final wicket, everyone erupted in joy, and in the latter phase of the celebration, Sarfaraz was seen lifting his cricketing best friend and regular captain Pant on his arm, and the two were seen enjoying the moment.
Watch the video here:
𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞. 𝐒𝐞𝐭. 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 ✌️
Mukesh Kumar wraps things up in fine fashion as Rest of India defeat J&K by 1⃣6⃣7⃣ runs in Srinagar to clinch the #IraniCup 2026 🥳👏
Updates ▶️ https://t.co/imfbVIsPep@mflone_ pic.twitter.com/Nhi5ezUvND
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) October 4, 2026
Mukesh Kumar dismissed Sunil Kumar as the final wicket fell; the Bengal pacer also erupted in joy as he celebrated with his teammates. After the customary handshakes, the team’s batting coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla was also seen congratulating Rishabh Pant on the win. This is a big win for Rishabh, who has just been removed from the vice-captaincy role of the Men in Blue.
Mukesh Kumar hero for ROI
Coming to the match, Jammu and Kashmir won the toss and opted to bowl first in the first innings. The rest of India scored 237 runs. But Rishabh could not score many runs, as he was dismissed for 10 runs. Smaran Ravichandran and Shikhar Mohan scored fifties, respectively.
Jammu and Kashmir, in the first innings, took a lead of 41 runs as they scored 278 runs. Captain Paras Dogra played a knock of 75 runs, and Abdul Samad scored 57 runs. Mukesh Choudhary picked up a fifer in the innings.
In the second innings, ROI was in danger as they were 166/8 at one stage, and then Smaran Ravichandran played a superb knock of 135 runs, and they posted 319, providing a target of 278 runs for the defending Ranji Champions.
Jammu and Kashmir in the second innings failed to chase down the target as they were bowled out for just 111 runs. Bengal pacer Mukesh Kumar dismantled the batting order, picking up 6 wickets.
“When you win, all the pain, all the fatigue goes away: Rishabh Pant after ROI’s win
After the match, Rishabh Pant was happy with the team’s performance and also stated that when the team wins, the fatigue and illness go away. He also revealed ROI’s plan to bowl at the right length.
He said, (as quoted by Cricbuzz), “Definitely you know, when you win, all the pain, all the fatigue goes away for sure. Mostly the plan was to bowl fuller in the first innings. That was the conversation we had with the bowlers that we were like, we would back up the length.”
“You know, that was something we wanted to correct 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, and we corrected that and bowled fuller and fuller in the second innings.”