Railways lifted the Irani Trophy after clinching a nine-wicket victory with nearly two days to spare against Rest of India at the Karnail Singh stadium in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The Ranji Trophy champions needed only an hour on the fourth morning to knock off the required 50 runs in the second innings to bag the trophy for the second time in four seasons.
Amit Pagnis gave no hopes for the Rest bowlers as he stroked seven boundaries on his way to 33 before being run out.
It was a bit of an anti-climax for Pagnis as the umpires pulled out the stumps and the players congratulated each other quite prematurely as they went by the scoreboard which turned out to be wrong.
Immediately on resumption, with two more runs still needed, Pagnis failed to beat Rudra Pratap Singh's throw.
Railways, who had won the title in 2002, were richer by Rs. two lakh.
Coach Vinod Sharma said the team owed its triumph to the strong performance from the lower order batsmen hat pulled them out of trouble in the first innings.
"It always happens with us. Our tail is very strong and has come to our rescue on many occasions. It happened in the Ranji Trophy final also," Sharma said.
He also praised Murali Kartik who hit a career best 96 and shared a 151-run stand with Yere Goud for the seventh wicket which enabled the hosts take a 88-run first innings lead after they had been reduced to 104 for six at one stage.
"Kartik, whenever he gets a chance, he proves. He always delivers," Sharma added.
While Railways celebrated, it was a sombre atmosphere in the Rest of India dressing room. The players quietly distributed the prize money among themselves and dispersed in no time.
At least Ramesh Powar, with figures of 7 for 116 in the first innings, did not deserve to be in the losing side.
The same could said of the other Rest bowlers who toiled hard on a track of uneven bounce. Fast bowler Sreesanth was diplomatic on his comments about the wicket.
"It was tough but manageable," the 22-year old from Cochin said with a smile.
"We tried to bowl a tight line and plug the mid-wicket, the main scoring area on this track," he said.
But couldn't they have done something to stop Kartik and Goud?
"That's how it happens, one partnership. We thought it would end but it went on and on."
The Rest were dismissed for 223 and 137 in the two innings, handing Railways an easy chase of 50 to win the coveted title.
Dheeraj Jadhav did not hurt his reputation with a 53 in the first innings and followed it up with an equally good 42 in the second knock.
Gautam Gambhir once again failed to capitalise on a good start as he got out for 47 on the first day, while Suresh Raina came good in the second innings with an attacking 30 before succumbing to the awkward bounce of Kartik.
Scoreboard:
Rest of India first innings: 223
Railways first innings: 311
Rest of India second innings: 137
Railways second innings (Target: 50 runs):
S Bangar not out 12
A Pagnis run out 33
Tejinder Pal Singh not out 2
Extras (b-1, nb-2) 3
Total (for 1 wicket in 15.2 overs) 50
Fall of wickets: 1-48.
Bowling: Sreesanth 3-1-18-0, R P Singh 4-0-9-0, R Powar 3-0-15-0, R Bose 3.2-1-6-0, S Raina 2-1-1-0.
Result: Railways win by nine wickets
