It's Rajat Patidar vs. Shreyas Iyer. After their face-off during the SMAT (Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy) final in 2024, they are now set to face each other for the ultimate title shot of IPL 2025 at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. The last time when Iyer and Patidar met in a final match, which was in SMAT last year, Iyer was the man who donned the silverware then. 

On December 14, 2024, Mumbai and Madhya Pradesh squared off in the final match to claim the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Shreyas Iyer, the leader of Mumbai, decided to chase a total after winning the toss and invited Rajat Patidar-led Madhya Pradesh to bat first. On pen and paper, Madhya Pradesh's playing combination had been outclassed by Mumbai's star-studded XI, but as soon as the match progressed, the rivalry was getting more interesting, thanks to Rajat Patidar, who played an unbeaten 81 off 40, powered by six 4s and six 6s, with a strike rate of 202.50. Though the other batters of Madhya Pradesh were unable to support their captain for a sustainable partnership, they finished their innings at 174/8 in 20 overs. 

Patidar was in great form in the tournament with 428 runs, just behind Ajinkya Rahane's 469. But the MP skipper has a better average than Rahane. The experienced batter from Mumbai summed up his SMAT season with an average of 58.62, and Patidar's was 61.14. Iyer was in fourth place on the list with 345 runs in total and 49.28 on average. 

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Same captains, different title race 

But an individual brilliancy can't lead a team to the final of a long tournament like SMAT. Mumbai performed like a unit throughout the tournament, and they found success. 

In the summit clash of 2024, collective efforts from Ajinkya Rahane, Suryakumar Yadav, and Suryansh Shedge helped Mumbai to chase down the target set by Madhya Pradesh in 17.5 overs and win the title under Shreyas Iyer's leadership. 

Ranji Trophy champions Madhya Pradesh will take on Rest of India in the Irani Cup 2023 fixture, starting from March 1 in Gwalior. The match was initially slated to be played in Indore but due to the third Test between India vs Australia coinciding the schedule, it was move to Gwalior. It will be the first first-class match in Gwalior to be played in more than six years.

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For the unversed, the Irani Cup is one-off fixture where the Ranji Trophy holders take on a combined team formed as Rest of India. The fixture usually takes place in the beginning of the new domestic season.

Madhya Pradesh will have the likes of Venkatesh Iyer, Rajat Patidar, Avesh Khan in the team while Himanshu Mantri is set to the lead the squad with regular captain Aditya Shrivastava set to miss. The most notable miss in the match will be Sarfaraz Khan as he will not feature for the Rest of India after sustaining an injury.

Irani Cup 2023: LIVE Streaming, When and Where to Watch

The Irani Cup 2023 match will telecast on the Star Sports Network. Indian viewers can also live stream the match on Disney+Hotstar network.

Irani Cup 2023: Squads

Rest of India squad: Mayank Agarwal (capt), Sudip Kumar Gharami, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Harvik Desai, Mukesh Kumar, Atit Sheth, Chetan Sakariya, Navdeep Saini, Upendra Yadav (wk), Mayank Markande, Saurabh Kumar, Akash Deep, B Indrajith, Pulkit Narang, Yash Dhull

Madhya Pradesh squad: Himanshu Mantri (capt & wk), Rajat Patidar, Yash Dubey, Harsh Gawli, Shubham Sharma, Venkatesh Iyer, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Aman Solanki, Kumar Kartikeya, Saransh Jain, Avesh Khan, Ankit Kushwah, Gaurav Yadav, Anubhav Agarwal, Mihir Hirwani