What

The 50th edition of the Irani Cup, which sees 2011-12 Ranji Trophy winners, Rajasthan, clash with Rest of India.

When

September 21-25, 2012. The game begins at 9:30 am, IST.

Where

M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. The recent Test match between India and New Zealand at this venue provided an ideal wicket, giving both batsmen and bowlers something to play for. If similar conditions are on offer for this game, we could well have five days of absorbing first-class cricket.

The Teams

On paper, Rest of India appear to be the stronger side by far, with the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, S Badrinath and Dinesh Karthik forming the batting core of the side. Their bowling department too appears to be well served with Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav, all very much a part of the side.

The key then for Rajasthan is to win the toss and bat first. Undoubtedly, their strength lies in their batting department with Vineet Saxena, Robin Bist and captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar all having enjoyed a strong 2011-12 first-class season. But the absence of Aakash Chopra (who joined Himachal Pradesh) and pacer Pankaj Singh (out injured) means that the Ranji champs are very much up against the odds.

Key Players

After a successful IPL 2012, Ajinkya Rahane had a poor three-match Test series against West Indies A, scoring just 62 runs from six innings. Although he was a part of the Indian squad for the Test series against New Zealand, Rahane did not get a game. So he will be eager to put up a strong showing in the Irani Cup tie to boost his own confidence.

Robin Bist ended the 2011-12 Ranji Trophy season as the highest run-getter. He scored a staggering 1,034 runs from 16 innings in 10 matches at an average of 86.16 in the season. His presence in the Rajasthan middle order makes the Ranji winners a formidable batting side.

Trivia:

• Rest of India's 757/7 declared against Bengal at Bangalore in 1990-91 is the highest score by a team in the tournament, while the 83 by the Rest against Bombay at Anantapur in 1963-64 is the lowest innings total in Irani Cup.

• Rajasthan is only the third Ranji team, after Mumbai and Karnataka, to play two successive Irani Cup games.

Venue Stats:

Average first innings score in First-class games at M Chinnaswamy Stadium (since 2010/11 season): 341

Average second innings score in First-class games at M Chinnaswamy Stadium (since 2010/11 season): 361

First-class result summary at M Chinnaswamy Stadium (since 2010/11 season):

Irani Cup winners’ record:

Irani Cup 2011: 1-5 October 2011 - Jaipur

Brief scores: Rest of India 663 and 354-2d beat Rajasthan 400 and 213 by 404 runs

The Squads:

ROI: Cheteshwar Pujara (captain), Murali Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane, S. Badrinath, Dinesh Karthik, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Yusuf Pathan, Pragyan Ojha, Parvinder Awana, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Stuart Binny, Abhimanyu Mithun, Harmeet Singh

Rajasthan: H Kanitkar (C), Rashmi Parida, Aniket Choudhary, Ankit Lamba, Vineet Saxena, Sumit Mathur, Gajendra Singh, Madhur Khatri, Dishant Yagnik (wk), Dipak Chahar, Raman Chahar, Robin Bist, Arjit Gupta, Vaibhav Deshpande, Puneet Yadav

All stats are as onSeptember 20, 2012