The Mumbai-Delhi final had its
share of drama, for most parts, an exciting swing here, swing there contest
where bowlers dictated terms, only for Mumbai to emerge victorious and win
their first Vijay Hazare title since 2007 at the back of a 105 run partnership
by two of their least utilized players in tournament.
There were times in the game when
Delhi threatened to wrestle the control from Mumbai. Himmat Singh threatened
with a 65-ball 41 before Tare's lightening quick work behind the stumps ended
his stay. Suboth Bhati did too after he was caught off a no-ball. It was
bizarre that Tushar Deshpande went on a celebration and extended a send-off to
the batsman who had mistimed a swat to mid-off.
But all this while, Delhi was only
threatening to seize control, nothing much. It was Navdeep Saini's first spell
which completely turned the course of the contest. On a lively wicket, he
bowled seven uninterrupted overs with the new ball - picking the wickets of
Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane and Suryakumar Yadav, the last of which was
controversial.
Mumbai's much-famed top order had
lost the battle to Delhi's in-form new ball duo, and left their middle order
constants to pull them out of quicksand. Neither Tare nor Lad had spent enough
time in the middle all through the series, with the top order doing the bulk of
the job. However, when the occasion arrived, they stood up to the challenge.
Together,
they took sucked away 105 runs from the target with their fifth wicket
alliance, and more or less sealed the fate of the game. Dubey hit some lusty
blows towards the end and took the team over the line with four wickets in hand
and 91 balls to spare, to help Mumbai's to their third Vijay Hazare Trophy.
