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Mumbai cruises to victory

NEW DELHI NOV. 18. Mumbai coasted home in true champion style in the end. A 10-wicket victory over Delhi would have been one of the most unlikely margins that could have been forecast before this Ranji Trophy Elite group `A' match began at the Jamia Millia ground here three days ago.

But on Tuesday, the final day of one of the key matches in the National championship, Mumbai made it look easier than expected by clinching victory just over an hour and half after lunch, with all its second innings wickets intact. Wasim Jaffer played the dominant role on the final day in fashioning an authoritative victory, remaining unbeaten on 117.

For winning by 10 wickets, Mumbai earned a bonus point apart from the four for the win and thus has nine from two matches so far. Delhi, battered beyond expectations on a track that provided some assistance to the spinners, will go into its next match with just four points after two rounds. Its batting, barring the sole exception of Gautam Gambhir, could not cope with the Mumbai spin attack.

Delhi added just one run to its overnight tally of 223 before being all out in its second innings on the final morning. That left Mumbai with a target of 185 in 99 overs that were available after taking into account time lost due to poor light earlier.

With the spinners having called the shots in this low-scoring match, it looked like Mumbai might be made to earn every single run, though the target did not seem tough.

If at all there was some optimism in the Delhi camp, it soon vanished given the way Jaffer and Vinayak Mane (63 not out, 4x4) began. They were untroubled against pace and spin alike and went to lunch at 73 from 33 overs. Once the opening pair knew that victory was certain, runs started coming at a faster rate. Jaffer's first 50 came in 152 minutes but the next one took just 54 minutes. He batted for 228 minutes, hitting a six off Sarandeep Singh over long-on, and nine other boundaries in an invaluable knock.

The scores: Delhi 199 and 224 (Nilesh Kulkarni four for 76, Sairaj Bahutule four for 77) lost to Mumbai 239 and 185 for no loss (Vinayak Mane 63 not out, Wasim Jaffer 117 not out).

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