The neutral venue gave the impetus in the Ranji Trophy final this year — a five-day match with three centuries, one eight-wicket haul, two four-wicket hauls, all inside of three days. Then you await an exciting finish too.

The final at the Wankhede provides this riveting atmosphere as Delhi and Uttar Pradesh battle it out. When stumps were drawn for the day, the contest remained locked in the most intriguing manner with Uttar Pradesh tottering at 154-6 in their second innings, having earned the all-important first innings lead.

In the morning it was easy to believe Delhi would go past UP’s first innings 342. Centuries by overnight batsmen Aakash Chopra (102) and Rajat Bhatia (139 n.o.) had raised that hope. But Praveen Kumar, the 21-year-old India player from Meerut, thought otherwise.

Two days of cricket notwithstanding, the wicket offered considerable bounce, and conditions helped swing as Kumar’s exceptional spell earned him an eight-wicket haul, reducing the opposition from 196-4 to 290 all out.

Instead of gaining a lead, Delhi ended up conceding one, by 52 runs. Kumar’s 8-68 from 32.1 overs happened to be the fifth best spell ever in an innings of a Ranji final. He was impressive the other day too, but the Delhi middle-order stemmed the rot. But with the new ball he scotched Delhi hopes. Soon his century Chopra was trapped leg-before, and while Bhatia kept the other end ticking, the rest perished.

Wicket-keeper-batsman Puneet Bisht, Pradeep Sangwan and Amit Bhandari were also adjudged leg-before while Sumit Narwal was bowled - all Kumar.

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