Mumbai in the finals of Ranji Trophy

Of the 88 overs that were bowled on Tuesday, only one mattered. It was the 73rd of Delhi’s first innings, 47th of the day, 13th after lunch, 12th of the innings by Ramesh Powar and the off-spinner’s ninth of the day. He went W00W00 and yes, it was WOW!

Powar’s double-wicket maiden — he eventually got 5/47 — was the highpoint of the day as defending champions Mumbai all but cruised into the final of the Ranji Trophy at the Brabourne Stadium.

Chasing Mumbai’s first innings score of 500, Delhi (overnight 85/3) were bundled out for 211 on Tuesday, giving the hosts a lead of 289.

Mumbai batted for a little over a session to end the day on 123 for four, an effective lead of 412 runs. The visitors will have to slug it out on Wednesday and would want to avoid the embarrassment of an outright loss given that the pitch is already a spinner’s paradise.

Powar’s 5/47 was the first time a Mumbai bowler got five or more wickets in an innings this season. This was also the Mumbai offie’s first five-for since his 5/67 against Hyderabad at the BKC in 2008. The last time Mumbai lost in the final was to Haryana who were led by a certain Kapil Dev.

Back to the field. The pitch was dormant in the first session as Delhi added a patient 72 runs in 34 overs, losing opener Shikhar Dhawan for 44. Wonder what the groundsman fed the pitch for lunch but it changed colours just like a chameleon.

Bhatia, who was dropped on 1 by counterpart Jaffer on Monday, hit a huge six over long-on off Iqbal Abdulla before helping an Ajit Agarkar delivery to third man for four more. That boundary took him to 83. Jaffer then brought in Powar, this time from the Churchgate End. Bhatia tried to sweep a straighter one and paid the price.

The bowler had won the battle and with it, the war. Two dot balls later, Puneet Bisht was castled to a classical off-spinner.
Powar went on to claim three more in his spell of 5.3-3-9-5 and the visitors lost six wickets for just 56 runs in 20.3 overs after lunch. Delhi had a bitter tea break while Mumbai were quietly celebrating.

Scorecard
Mumbai 1st Innings: 500
Delhi 1st Innings (Overnight 85/3): S Dhawan c Samant b Agarkar 44, R Bhatia b Powar 85, G Chhabra lbw Abdullah 45, P Bisht b Powar 0, P Sangwan c Khanvilkar b Powar 0, I Sharma Samant b Powar 1, P Awana c Jaffer b Powar 11, V Mishra not out; Extras: (NB3, W1) 4; Total: (10 wickets; 80.3 overs) 211; Fall of wickets: 4-99 (Dhawan), 5-188 (Bhatia), 6-188 (Bisht), 7-192 (Sangwan), 8-200 (Chabra), 9-204 (Sharma); Bowling: Agarkar 16-4-48-2, Malvi 13-3-38-1 (NB2), Salvi 14-5-21-1, Nayar 6-0-22-0, Powar 15.3-4-47-5 (NB1), Abdulla 16-5-35-1

Mumbai 2nd Innings: S Kukreja b Mishra 71, W Jaffer c Bisht b Mishra 20, A Rahane c Sangwan b Jain 1, O Khanvilkar batting 15, V Samant b Mishra 0, I Abdulla batting 0; Extras: (B8, LB4, W1, NB3) 16; Total: (4 wickets; 33 overs) 123; Fall of Wickets: 1-50 (Jaffer), 2-63 (Rahane), 3-119 (Kukreja), 4-119 (Samant); Bowling: Sangwan 6-0-21-0 (NB3 W1), Awana 3-2-1-0, Sharma 2-0-10-0, Mishra 11-3-32-3, Jain 8-2-36-1, Tehlan 3-0-11-0.