Coming back from an injury, Akash Deep picked up six wickets in the Irani Cup, helping Rest of India claim a 167-run victory over Jammu & Kashmir.
Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar star as Rest of India bag 31st Irani title
Akash Deep bagged three wickets in the second innings to play his part in the Rest of India winning the Irani Cup. Mukesh Kumar ran riot with six wickets in the second innings as Ranji Trophy champions Jammu & Kashmir were skittled out for 111 after claiming a 41-run first innings lead.
Akash, who recovered from a lower-back stress fracture to return to professional cricket for the first time since February, had contributed with three wickets in the first innings.
With a target of 279, Qamran Iqbal (32) and Shubham Khajuria (36) added 54 for the first wicket before Iqbal’s dismissal ignited a collapse. J&K went from 54-0 to 65-3 in a span of 22 deliveries. Introduced into the attack in the seventh over, Akash trapped Iqbal leg-before and, with the first ball after lunch, sent back Khajuria.
Akash’s Bengal teammate Mukesh also removed two of the top four batters, Shubham Pundir (9) and skipper Paras Dogra (0), to reduce J&K to 89-4, which soon became 98-5 once Kanhaiya Wadhawan (2) fell. They couldn’t recover from the collapse as the RoI bowlers kept chipping away with regular wickets.
Excellent bowling 👌 DRS delight ☝️ 🎥 A superb review from Rest of India as Akash Deep gets a key wicket 👏 Updates ▶️ https://t.co/WPBSyJPp33 #IraniCup https://t.co/QoMWkuQLWU
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) October 4, 2026
Akash then returned to dismiss Sahil Lotra (0) in the 26th over. With Abdul Samad back in the den for 20, Mukesh rounded things off with three wickets in four balls.
Earlier in the game, RoI managed 237 in the first innings. Heroics from Lone Nasir helped J&K manage a 41-run lead as Mukesh Choudhary scalped five wickets and Akash three. R Smaran continued with his red-hot form, adding 135 to his first-innings score of 68 to help RoI post 319 before Mukesh and Akash rattled J&K in the second innings.
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