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.

... contd.