‘Double dhamaka’, screamed the cricketers as beer cans and champagne bottles were opened inside the dressing room.

Sehwag and Ishant Sharma had plotted successfully against the Australians in Perth, and in Mumbai, Gambhir’s boys held their nerve until it all became easy in the end.

Chasing 230 for victory, Gambhir began in a manner that was evident of his Twenty20 success. The left-hander struck three boundaries before he actually settled down to take stock of the situation and despite losing the wicket of Aakash Chopra, Uttar Pradesh knew they were heading for doom.

Eventually, it was the captain’s knock—Gambhir’s 130 not out, off 154 balls—that gave the script its final touch.

Delhi won the match by nine wickets, one that had been dominated by Uttar Pradesh for a good two and-a-half days.

Having received the trophy at the hands of chairman of selectors Dilip Vengsarkar, Gambhir got busy on phone.

It was a call from Perth, Sehwag and Sharma eager to know about the victory.

“It has been a wonderful team effort. We were all quite frustrated over the last couple of years for not having done enough to reach here. It was a dream that we were all focused on, and finally it has happened,” Gambhir said after the match.

In their established careers, if Gambhir, Sehwag and Chopra had been desperately missing out on anything, it had to be the Ranji Trophy.

In hindsight, Uttar Pradesh captain Mohammad Kaif can blame himself for the atrocious stroke he played the other day, trying to reach out to a delivery outside off, edging to the wicket-keeper.

Had he stuck around, with Suresh Raina, the story could have been different. “Yes, I accept it was a bad stroke. But mistakes do happen,” Kaif said after the match.

That was the beginning of UP’s downfall—from 123-3 on Friday afternoon when Kaif was caught, soon to 130-6, and eventually 177 all out this morning.

The lower order succumbed to Delhi left-arm medium-pacer Pradeep Sangwan.

The morning helped Sangwan the same way UP medium-pacer Praveen Kumar got it on the third day. Sangwan bowled a tight line too, just short of good length that never allowed the UP middle-order to settle.

The toe-crusher to get rid of Kumar took the cake.

To defend 230 was never going to be easy, and pitch helped Gambhir hurry up the proceedings.

The Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) had announced a junket of sorts for all its officials who wanted to watch their team play the Ranji final.

And therefore, as far as support went, there were plenty who egged on as play continued.

Uttar Pradesh had done almost everything right—building a good first innings total after being put in to bat, taking the first innings lead, their lead bowler managing an eight wicket haul—before losing the steam on Day Three.

Delhi—going by Akash Chopra and Rajat Bhatia’s 194-run stand, Sangwan’s nine wickets and Gambhir’s scintillating ton—simply held their nerve when it mattered.

DELHI’S CROWNS

• 1978-79, Bangalore (vs Karnataka)

• 1979-80, Delhi (vs Mumbai)

• 1981-82, Delhi (vs Karnataka)

• 1985-86, Delhi (vs Haryana)

• 1988-89, Delhi (vs Bengal)

• 1991-92, Delhi (vs Tamil Nadu)

• 2007-08, Mumbai (vs Uttar Pradesh)

—S.PERVEZ QAISER

End of a 16-year itch

• A 16-year wait ended when they beat Uttar Pradesh by nine wickets—Delhi’s seventh title

• The first win: That was in 1978-79, beating Karnataka in the final in Bangalore under Bishan Singh Bedi

• The previous win: In 1991-92 when they beat Tamil Nadu in Delhi under Kirti Azad.

Scoreboard

Uttar Pradesh 1st innings: 342

Delhi 1st innings: 290

Uttar Pradesh 2nd innings (overnight 154-6):

RP Srivastava c Bisht b Bhatia 18, T Srivastava run out 1, S Raina c Bisht b Sangwan 85, M Kaif c Bisht b Sangwan 21, R Shukla c Jain b Bhandari 0, P Chawla c Dhawan b Narwal 4, B Kumar b Sangwan 19, A Khan c Bisht b Sangwan 12, P Kumar b Sangwan 1, P Gupta c Bhatia b Bhandari 13, S Tyagi not out 0

Extras (lb 1, nb 2)3

Total (all out, in 63.2 overs) 177

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-63, 3-123, 4-126, 5-130, 6-130, 7-154, 8-160, 9-169

Bowling: Sangwan 20-6-46-5, Narwal 16-6-65-1, Bhandari 11.2-2-28-2, Bhatia 9-3-14-1, Nanda 7-1-23-0.

Delhi 1st innings: A Chopra c Kaif b Gupta 33, G Gambhir not out 130, S Dhawan not out 54

Extras (b 5, lb 3, nb 2, wb 3) 13

Total (for one wkt, in 55.1 overs) 230

Fall of wicket: 1-91

Bowling: Kumar 18-4-48-0, Tyagi 12.1-2-59-0, Kumar 3-1-8-0, Gupta 14-0-77-1, Chawla 8-0-30-0