A season later, we see a sphinx-like recovery, a brilliant run, and despite missing three of their stars, a title-grab (as they did, beating neighbours Uttar Pradesh by 9 wickets in Mumbai on Saturday). Almost like a fairytale. Their seventh crown, after 16 years on the sidelines.

Just a reminder: Virender Sehwag was not there, Ishant Sharma was not there and neither was Virat Kohli.

The Ranji title win was a true team effort. It was not through mainline contributions from just a handful, but all contributed, with bat or ball. There was one small mantra from coach Vijay Dahiya at the start of the season: go and play, forget the rest.

Like every other victory, there is also a story in figures. Veteran opener Aakash Chopra scored 765 runs this season, Rajat Bhatia made 524 runs and took 26 wickets. 17-year-old Pradeep Sangwan took 33 wickets, and he missed two Ranji matches because he was doing national duty in the under-19 team.

It was only last season—Delhi were rudderless under coach Chetan Chauhan. Rahul Sanghvi was deliberately omitted from the squad and he decided not to play for Delhi again. But new coach Dahiya and former pacer Manoj Prabhakar—bowling coach — changed it all.

Dahiya—who had just hung up his boots—found a friendly dressing room, and outside, Prabhakar’s vital tips urged young hopefuls forward. Late in the season, the BCCI’s decision to use neutral venue from the semi-final stage also contributed.

On neutral venue, Delhi played a better game, just when it mattered.

Eyebrows were raised before the season, noting that Delhi lacked a quality spinner. But their pace attack—Sangwan, Parvinder Awana, Amit Bhandari and all-rounder Rajat Bhatia — proved that even a team without a good spinner could emerge champions.

The season can also be looked as the return of experienced Delhi players to the domestic season. Gautam Gambhir, Chopra, Bhatia, Mitthun Manhas all stood up to the occasion.

Chopra came back with a bang, wiping out his last season’s inconsistencies, proving the critics wrong.

Dahiya says it was nothing but great self confidence, and team effort. “It was because players believed in themselves, right from the start, and they knew they could do it,” he says.

The coach was in full praise of young pacer Sangwan who played a crucial role in the team’s victory in the final. Sangwan was called back from South Africa where he was in the U-19 national duty.

“Youngsters have played really well and everyone was taking up responsibilities. Sangwan did a remarkable job. When we started the season, everyone was asking about our bowling strength and everyone was questioning whether we will ever be able to have an outright win. But the way Sangwan bowled, he proved that we had a good attack,” Dahiya said.

Bhandari, a senior in the team, also applauded the young left arm pacer. “He is a great young bowler and if he keeps on like this, soon we might see him in the national squad,” Bhandari said.

On the team’s victory Bhandari said: “This was the best group I have ever played with. The players were thinking positively and this time it was a complete team. We didn’t lack in any of the departments.”

Opener Chopra said, “This season everything came together at the right time and at the right place. Whenever we needed some to stand up we had a hero, be it me, Gautam, Sangwan or anyone else. And that’s what made all the difference. This year we didn’t depend on just one or two individuals to perform.”

And the man who made all the difference to the team the 17-year-old left arm pacer doesn’t regret coming back for the all-crucial encounter.

“Playing for Delhi and being a part of the victors is always good. It gave me a good exposure. All I wanted to do was to perform well as there were selectors watching the game. Prabhakar really helped me. He worked on my action. Earlier my hand used to come far from my head, but now it comes close from my head. My ball has started swinging late and he has really helped me a lot,” Sangwan said.

DELHI’S TITLE RUN

•Against Rajasthan: Delhi 119 (P Singh 5/43) & 387 (V Kohli 106, M Manhas 100, Rajat Bhatia 83; P Singh 5/110, S G Gehlot 4/97) vs Rajasthan 85 (P Sangwan 3/29; R Bhatia 3/16) & 249 (G Khoda 71, R Bisht 69; A Bhandari 3/17)

Delhi won by 172 runs

•Against Saurashtra: Delhi 244 (M Manhas 72, S Dhawan 38; S Jobanputra 5/73) and 295/2d (A Chopra 124, S Dhawan 114; V Kohli 40); vs Saurashtra 213 (S Kotak 77; I Sharma 4/ 72, R Bhatia 4/16) and 254/9 (P Sangwan 4/70, I Sharma 3/79)

Match drawn

• Against Mumbai: Mumbai 166 (P T Naik 40; P Sangwan 3/38, I Sharma 3/70) and 471/9d (S Kukreja 199, A Nayar 93; P Sangwan 5/72) Delhi 251 (G Gambhir 89, R Bhatia 49; A Salvi 3/44) and 252/3 (A Chopra 81, G Gambhir 137)

Match drawn

• Against Maharashtra: Maharashtra 219 (H Kanitkar 67; R Bhatia 5/29, C Nanda 3/40) and 240 (Y Takewala 75, H Kanitkar 50; P Awana 4/62, C Nanda 4/70) vs Delhi 409 (A Chopra 73, R Bhatia 107, M Manhas 74; S Agharkar 5/85) and 51/3

Delhi won by 7 wickets

• Against Karnataka: Delhi 538 (S Dhawan 148, V Kohli 169, M Manhas 124; R Vinay Kumar 5/121) vs Karnataka 0/0

Match drawn

• Against Tamil Nadu: Tamil Nadu 268(M Vijay 77, A Mukund 51; P Sangwan 2/48, R Bhatia 3/16, C Nanada 3/65) and 174 (R Ram Kumar 57; C Nanda 5/47, P Sangwan 2/18); Delhi 338 (G Gambhir 84, S Dhawan 59, A Chopra 55; C Suresh 4/83) and 105/2 (G Gambhir 40)

Delhi won by 8 wickets

•Against Baroda: Baroda 199 (P Shah 46; A Bhandari 4/52, S Narwal 4/56) and 342 (Y Pathan 113, R Solanki 96; R Bhatia 3/42, P Awana 3/74). Delhi 271 (M Manhas 97; S Vohra 3/79) and 272/3 (G Gambhir 132, S Dhawan 48)

Delhi won by 7 wickets

• Against UP: Uttar Pradesh 342 (T Srivastava 105, R Shukla 96; P Sangwan 4/80, S Narwal 4/81) and 177 (S Raina 85; P Sangwan 5/46) vs Delhi 290 (A Chopra 102, R Bhatia 139 n.o.; P Kumar 8/68) and 230/1 (G Gambhir 130, S Dhawan 54)

Delhi won by 9 wickets