Defending champions Mumbai romped to a ten-wicket victory over Delhi in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'A' league cricket match at the Jamia Millia Islamia University grounds in Delhi on Tuesday.
Test batsman Wasim Jaffer hit an unbeaten 117, his 16th first-class hundred, while his opening partner Vinayak Mane was unbeaten on 63 as Mumbai hit up the required 185 runs for victory in their second innings to grab five points from the match.
Mumbai, with four points from their previous victory over Baroda, are now atop Group 'A' with nine points while Delhi have two points from a draw against Uttar Pradesh.
Mumbai needed only eight balls to remove the last wicket standing in Delhi's second innings. Captain Sairaj Bahutule castled Amit Bhandari to finish with four for 77, for a match haul of nine for 122.
Left arm spinner Nilesh Kulkarni returned with four for 76, for match figures of eight for 138.
The defending champions faced little trouble on the final day, something surprising considering the fact that each day of the match witnessed a fall of at least eight wickets.
The track that had helped the spinners all through suddenly seemed to lose its venom, with the sun coming out shining, and Jaffer and Mane hit sparkling form to set up a smooth win for Mumbai.
The Delhi bowlers, on the other hand, lacked an alternative plan to fall back on when their spinners could not get them a breakthrough.
Fast bowler Ashish Nehra did not please anyone when he sat out after the first new-ball spell.
Mumbai reached 73 in 33 overs to sit pretty at lunch. Upon resumption, the sting of the hosts bowling taken out, Jaffer (117, 228m, 182b, 9x4, 1x6) and Mane (63, 152b, 4x4) began to play their shots with more confidence. The former, in particular, was bold in stepping out to the spinners. The right-hander enjoyed the cheers of the crowd, which did show some bias while applauding the efforts of other players.
Mumbai coach Chandrakant Pandit said the contribution of middle-order batsman Bhavin Thakker, 71 in the first innings, was crucial to his team's victory.
"Thakker showed good application... it was unfortunate that we had to keep him out for much of the season last year because Vinod Kambli was coming in.
"Today, however, he had an opportunity and he proved himself again," the former India wicket-keeper said.
Refusing to criticize the standard of the pitch, which offered turn from the outset, Pandit said the conditions could have been better for a first-class match.
"We have a balanced side, we were prepared to play on any wicket."
The visiting coach also praised his bowlers and the team as a whole.
"The players are gelling well. They understand and have faith in each other," he said.
Delhi coach Madan Lal was in despair. In his first year at the helm, his team had failed to force a result against Uttar Pradesh and suffered its second successive defeat at the hands of Mumbai. But the former India player and coach tried to deflect of any criticism.
"I am under no pressure, I have done my job. At the end of the day, it is the players who have to take responsibility because it is they who perform on the field," he said.
Scoreboard
Delhi (1st innings): 199
Mumbai (1st innings): 239
Delhi (2nd innings):
A Chopra b Kulkarni 28
G Gambhir c Kambli b Kulkarni 105
S Oberoi run out 12
M Manhas c Jaffer b Bahutule 13
A Jadeja run out 31
R Bhatia b Bahutule 0
V Dahiya c Powar b Bahutule 9
S Singh st Samant b Kulkarni 4
R Sanghvi b Kulkarni 3
A Nehra not out 2
A Bhandari b Bahutule 0
Extras: (b-2, lb-7, nb-8) 17
Total: (all out in 69 overs) 224
Fall of wickets: 1-59, 2-85, 3-127, 4-194, 5-195, 6-206, 7217, 8-222, 9-223.
Bowling: Munaf Patel 6-2-24-0, Robin Morris 4-1-6-0, Nilesh Kulkarni 24-3-76-4, Sairaj Bahutule 25-3-77-4, Ramesh Powar 10-1-32-0.
Mumbai (2nd innings):
V Mane not out 63
W Jaffer not out 117
Extras: (b-1, nb-4) 5
Total: (for no loss, 55 overs) 185
Bowling: Ashish Nehra 6-0-16-0, Amit Bhandari 8-1-24-0, Rajat Bhatia 11-2-28-0, Sarandeep Singh 12-1-43-0, Rahul Sanghvi 10-1-55-0, Mithun Manhas 8-1-18-0.