To say that the Ranji Trophy Super League final between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh was an anti-climax would be stating the obvious.
Having said that, it is imperative here to state the obvious so as to explain a match which was on an even track for the first three days but came to a screeching halt, and a rather tame end, on the fourth.
Delhi romped home by nine wickets to win their seventh Ranji title and their first in 16 years-- they had beaten Tamil Nadu in the 1991-92 final last.
Set a modest target of 230 (after UP folded up for just 177 in their second innings), with almost two days to spare, Delhi lost Aakash Chopra (33) before captain Gautam Gambhir, with an impressive 130 not out, and Shikhar Dhawan (54 not out) steered them home.
Delhi went into tea needing just six runs to win and achieved that soon after the commencement of the third session - in just seven balls and three minutes, to be precise.
Gambhir, who had 600 runs at 85.71 from four games prior to the final before being dismissed for a second-ball duck in the first essay, led from the front. His knock was the fourth instance this season that had him scoring a century in the fourth innings, the last one having come in the semi-finals against Baroda (132).
The 26-year-old put on 91 for the opening wicket with first innings centurion Aakash Chopra and then combined with Dhawan to put on an unbroken 139-run partnership for the second wicket, one that guided Delhi home.
Gambhir's impressive innings was replete with 17 magnificent hits to the fence.
"Winning the Ranji after such a long time is a dream come true. The team deserves it," said Gambhir afterwards.
With the selection committee meeting on Sunday to decide the one-day squad for the Commonwealth Bank tri-series next month, Gambhir's chances of making the cut have improved further.
So dominating were the Delhi batsmen, Gambhir in particular, that the UP bowlers, including Praveen Kumar-- who had eight
wickets in the first innings and 36 this season-- and Sudeep Tyagi, the season's highest wicket-taker with 41 scalps, were rendered ineffective.
However, such was not the case with Delhi bowlers earlier in the day, rookie Pradeep Sangwan in particular.
The 17-year-old had promised to go all out at the end of day three and he kept his word, his opening spell reading 5-3-5-3 as UP-- resuming at 154 for six-- losing their remaining four wickets for the addition of just 23 runs.
Sangwan had figures of 5 for 46 in the second essay and an impressive match-haul of 9 for 126. He finished this season with 33 wickets.
"It wasn't as easy to bowl on this wicket. But if you put the ball in the right areas it worked," said Sangwan. "To be patient was the need of the hour."
Indeed, it was patience that did the trick for Delhi more than anything else. Uttar Pradesh skipper Mohammad Kaif made no bones of accepting where his team erred.
"Our batting let us down," he rued. In the hindsight he can sit back and analyse what went wrong for it hardly matters.
What does matter is that Delhi are the 2007-08 Ranji Trophy champions.
