Together, the trio staged an entertaining final day’s play as Delhi also took a bonus point with their 10-wicket victory.

Dhawan seemed to develop a special liking for Balakrishna Jadeja’s steady left-arm seam, carting him for big sixes and four boundaries in a three-over opening spell that cost 34 runs. Jolted by the sheer audacity of the Delhi run chase — they raised 77 in the first 10 overs — Saurashtra contributed to Dhawan’s 29-ball half-century with needless overthrows, full tosses and short-pitched deliveries.

The skipper-deputy duo became cautious towards the end, but when the opening pair had walked out in the fourth innings, they had little options but to go for the offensive with 27 overs left in the match.

Jadeja leads fightback

Ravindra Jadeja had opted for that attitude earlier in the afternoon. The left-hander arrived in the middle of a superlative spell from Awana with the old ball. With Saurashtra five down, Jadeja led the fightback, hitting anything banged short or wide, picking up maximum runs on the off-side with his delectable backfoot play as he put on 87 runs with Sagar Jogiyani.

Jadeja scored his second century of the season in just 110 balls even as Awana returned for his second spell to bag two more wickets. Once Yogesh Nagar got rid of Jobanputra with Saurashtra at 253/9, Jadeja quickly switched gears, killing time and holding strike.

Delhi finally took the second new ball after 85.4 overs and Awana got his second consecutive five-wicket haul when he took a soft return catch to end Jadeja’s defiance and allow his batsmen to go for the kill.

Delhi now need to win their last league match, and hope that Saurashtra, one point ahead of them in the points tally with 18, don’t get an equal five in their game against Hyderabad.