Ranji Trophy: Mumbai rise from ashes

The ball broke back sharply and took the off stump. Even Sandhu looked surprised before he started celebrating.

Sehwag’s dismissal all but sealed Mumbai’s victory and their march to the semifinal. The 40-time champions will face the defending champions in Bangalore from February 25.

Delhi had very little fight left. They slumped to 236 all out in their second innings, in the final over of an extended first session on the fifth day here on Friday. Mumbai’s 204-run victory was well earned.

Mediumpacer Shardul Thakur was adjudged Man of the Match. Without his five-for in the first innings and a match haul of 8/113, Mumbai would have lost this contest. But it was not a one-man show — from Akhil Herwadkar to Wilkin Mota and Sandhu, everyone stood up to be counted. Mumbai progressed, riding on fightbacks and team effort.

Their season had started with a loss to minnows Jammu and Kashmir at home. An innings defeat against Tamil Nadu had put them on the brink. Mumbai were staring at relegation. They had been ridiculed as one of the weakest-ever. Suryakumar Yadav’s decision to quit captaincy compounded the crisis. His replacement, Tare, however, brought in stability.

An in-form Baroda were taken care of in a do-or-die game and then a first-innings lead over Karnataka allowed Mumbai to enter the knockouts. The decision to roll over the old and bring in the new stood vindicated.

Shreyas Iyer and Shardul Thakur have been the two leaders for Mumbai with 744 runs (average 53.14) and 40 wickets (average 21.72), respectively, this season. Help arrived from all quarters. Tare scored a century to set up the game against Baroda.

Sandhu and left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh took four wickets each in the first innings to put the team on road to victory.

Against Karnataka, Siddhesh Lad and Nikhil Patil scored hundreds, while Harmeet returned with six wickets.

In the quarterfinal against Delhi, Herwadkar scored his maiden first-class hundred. Mota provided the game-changing moments with the scalps of Unmukt Chand and Shivam Sharma on the fourth day. And on Friday Sandhu made decisive interventions, accounting for Sehwag, Rahul Yadav and Parvinder Awana. Little wonder that coach Pravin Amre exuded confidence about the making of another great Mumbai team.

“Yes, definitely… I see the potential with this team and they’ve to be backed for the next two years. The key thing was to find the talent, and now that we’ve done that, it’s about backing them,” he said. “There was tremendous pressure, but we showed a lot of character as a team to handle the pressure. Herwadkar had a tough season, but we backed him and he delivered,” Amre added.

After the match, Delhi players returned to the team hotel in groups. Their Mumbai counterparts opted for a net session following an early finish and then boarded the team bus. The vibes emanating from the camp were loud and clear — never write Mumbai off, ever.

Brief scores: Mumbai 156 & 450 beat Delhi 166 & 236 all out in 87 overs (Rajat Bhatia 49; Balwinder Sandhu 3/35, Shardul Thakur 3/59) by 204 runs.