Irani was born in Karachi (present-day Pakistan, in the Sind province of British India) and made his debut in first-class cricket in 1937 at the age of 14, playing for Sind while still in school.
In the match against an Australian XI at Sydney, he scored 43 batting at No.11 and added 97 runs with Gogumal Kishenchand.
However, he was the first Indian wicket-keeper to score a duck on debut (the only one until Ajay Ratra in 2002) and was replaced after two matches by Khokhan Sen. Sen remained India's wicket-keeper for 5 years, and Irani never played for India again.
[2] He studied in Bai Vibhaji Sopratiwala High School, and DJ Sind College in Karachi, and also played for Bombay University.
He died in his home town, Karachi, by then in Pakistan.