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Organizing the Jiji Irani Challenge Cricket Tournament after a break of three years, the host team, Calcutta, won all three of their matches played against the teams from Nagpur, Hyderabad and Jamshedpur. The Surat team did not participate in the pentangular event this year held from February 3 to 5 in Calcutta as funding was reportedly not forthcoming. Some cricketers from Surat though did play for the Jamshedpur team.
"Whilst it was great to be back playing cricket, we fondly remembered those who had passed away during this period, especially Dr Jamshed Irani and Navzar Dotivala of Jamshedpur, and Shiraz Gimi of Nagpur. They were the pillars who held this tournament together,” noted a report of the event sent by Jehan Mehta, vice president of the Calcutta Parsee Club. "We also fondly remembered Peshotan Mehta from Nagpur and Porus Bhagwagar from Surat” who too had passed away during this Covid period, he added.
"The tournament in 2023 saw its first super over when the scores between Calcutta and Hyderabad were tied at the end of 20 overs each. We saw three matches going down to the last over with Nagpur narrowly losing out on both occasions, first to Jamshedpur and then to Calcutta,” Mehta enumerated on the exciting moments of the matches played by the Zoroastrian cricketers from four cities.
Helping team Calcutta to win all three of their matches were "different players who put in sensational performances at crunch times.” In the match against Hyderabad, Ratan Postwalla scored 38 off 20 balls to take the match into the super over. Subsequently Sanjay Dutta smashed two sixes off the first two balls which helped Calcutta set a target of 17 runs for Hyderabad to win. Postwalla then got back into action to bowl a phenomenal last over picking up a wicket and giving away 12 runs to win the first super over of the tournament.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last match of the series between Calcutta and Nagpur was equally thrilling. Danush Dungaji of Nagpur who had scored a phenomenal 106 off 53 deliveries took the match to the last over. "When Calcutta needs someone to perform under pressure, they always look to Sanjay who got Dungaji’s wicket on the first ball and then successfully helped Calcutta defend their total as well as the Jiji Irani Challenge Trophy,” wrote Mehta.
The man of the series trophy was shared by Dungaji for his sensational batting and the captain of the Calcutta team Rayzad Bulsara for his all-round consistency, scoring 176 runs and taking six wickets. The best batsman trophy went to Jamsheed  Hormusji of Hyderabad who scored 223 runs in the matches he played. The best bowler of the series was Delzad Patel of Nagpur who picked up five wickets in his three matches.
Instituted as a friendly match between the Zoroastrian cricketers of Nagpur (where Jiji played and trained upcoming cricketers) and Jamshedpur (where Jiji’s son Jamshed, the erstwhile managing director of Tata Steel, was based), over the years the tournament expanded in scope to include teams from Calcutta, Hyderabad and Surat.      Having accompanied Jamshed to the previous matches in Jamshedpur in 2020, wife Daisy Irani recalled telling the youngsters that she was not sure how long they would be able to continue with this tournament as they were getting old. Sensing their disappointment, the Iranis assured them support until they were around. In a subsequent chat with Parsiana, Daisy mentioned that it takes considerable effort and additional finances, borne by the host team, that helps the event to continue although it is now becoming increasingly difficult to come up with a 11-member Zoroastrian team from each of the five cities.