Delhi Ranji team against Bombay (Special Arrangement)
Like the win in the 1979-80 season, Delhi will hope that this win over Mumbai begins a new chapter and the state returns to its dominating ways of the 80s
More than 40 years ago, Delhi defeated Mumbai (then Bombay) for the first time in Ranji Trophy history. The victory came in the final of the tournament in the 1979–80 season when the Bishan Singh Bedi-led unit defeated Sunil Gavaskar-led Bombay at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium (now the Arun Jaitley Stadium) in New Delhi. After that Bombay win, Delhi made the finals in the 80–81, 81–82, 83–84, 84–85, 85–86, 86–87, 88–89 and 89–90 seasons, and in the 1980s Completely dominated. Three of Delhi’s seven Ranji titles came in that decade.
Unlike the Delhi-Mumbai encounters of the past, the build-up to the match in round six of the 2022-23 season was one-sided. Mumbai came into this clash as heavy favorites and had star power in an Ajinkya Rahane-led unit featuring the likes of Prithvi Shaw, Sarfaraz Khan and Shams Mulani. The last four days though saw a young Delhi unit in the form of stand-in skipper Himmat Singh as Yash Dhull was recovering from “viral fever”, punching above their weight and thrashing the visitors.
Electing to field, Delhi struck early and dominated the Mumbai unit before a rescue act by Sarfaraz Khan (125) propelled the visitors to a fighting 293 in the first innings. This bowling unit had a combined first-class experience of just 12 matches before this fixture and they bowled with a lot of heart in helpful conditions, keeping the likes of Shaw and Rahane quiet.
If it was Pranshu Vijayaran with the ball on the first day, Vaibhav Raval (114) and Himmat Singh (85) combined well to take the lead in the first innings and then it was Divij Mehra, playing only his second FC game , who took Put another fifteen visitors on the mat. The modest target was easily overhauled and the Himmat-led unit ended their long wait for a win over Mumbai with a resounding eight-wicket win.
Ending a forgettable season on a good note
Delhi are out of the knockout race but have put up a fight in their last two Ranji outings. The young unit managed to take a first innings lead over Andhra in their last encounter and have now registered a straight win over Mumbai in their Round 6 encounter. They have 11 points from six matches and will look to stay away from their last away fixture against Hyderabad starting January 24.
Their fast bowlers were plagued by injuries right from the opening game and regulars Navdeep Saini, Simarjit Singh and Ishant Sharma were missing from action in the red-ball season. In his absence, the youngsters are working hard and getting better with every game.
Dhruv Shorey continues to top the run-getters charts in the competition with 806 runs from six matches and is getting good support from Vaibhav Raval (396 runs) and Himmat Singh (362 runs). The player who has shown a lot of courage and will to fight this season is young spinner Hrithik Shaukeen. The bowling all-rounder came out to bat at No.3 on difficult surfaces and scored 274 runs in four matches. His 68* against Saurashtra was perhaps one of his finest as the right-handed batsman rescued Delhi from 10/7 and pushed them to 133.
trimmed squad
After President Rohan Jaitley’s scathing email to the DDCA Apex Council and CAC on selection matters, the selection duties of Nikhil Chopra, Gursharan Singh and Reema Malhotra are now being taken care of by the CAC. Jumbo squads of 20 and 22 have now been reduced to the permissible 15 (+1 wicketkeeper backup).
The President himself was at the Arun Jaitley Stadium this morning to watch the team register a historic win and spoke at length with the players after the game was over. The customary photographs followed and Muskan returned to the DDCA corridor after a season that saw little success on the field, and was plagued by off-field selection issues.
Like the win in the 1979-80 season, Delhi would be hoping that this win over Mumbai would start a new chapter and the state would return to the dominating ways of the 80s. It has been over 15 years since Delhi lifted the last (2007-08 season) Ranji Trophy title and would like to end the long wait next season.
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