Ranji Trophy: Bhatia, Narwal defy Mumbai

NEW DELHI - An unbeaten seventh-wicket century partnership between Rajat Bhatia and Sumit Narwal saved Delhi the ignominy of a defeat at the hands of Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy Super League match on the fourth and last day at the Roshanara Club grounds here Saturday.

Chasing the improbable victory target of 560, Delhi were reeling at 90 for five at lunch before Bhatia (57 not out, 147b, 9×4) and Narwal (79 not out, 72 balls, 9×4, 4×6) came to the rescue with their 106-run partnership. Delhi finished at 242 for six.

It was anyway a lost cause for the hosts who needed an outright win to qualify to the knockout stage. Mumbai, who were already through to the next round, showed the urgency to win and snatched the 66 run first innings lead, after being bowled out for 267 runs on a seaming wicket, that fetched them three points.

“It was a very satisfying performance considering that our four key players were not playing and we were not playing at home. Lot of people were questioning why we chose to bat on a seaming track, but it was a positive decision. The batsmen wanted to take up the challenge and we also wanted to test our reserve lot,” said Mumbai coach Pravin Amre.

“Iqbal (Abdullah) bowled very welll and Rohit (Sharma) came up with a chanceless century. We always wanted to qualify for the knockout stage before playing the last match and we were able to do so,” he said.

After seven league matches, the defending champions Mumbai, Tamil Nadu and Railways have qualified to the quarterfinals from the Pool A.

Mumbai now play Rajasthan at Jaipur while Tamil Nadu will take on Baroda in Baroda Dec 24.

The chances of an outright win and a possible qualification had slipped from Delhis hand on the third day itself after Mumbai collected 413 runs with Sharma scoring 148, to stretch the lead to 553. The least the hosts could have done was to enforce a draw but that too looked a distant possibility.

The Mumbai batting lasted two overs in the morning after overnight batsmen Iqbal Abdullah (73) and Moondeep Mangela (26) were back in the hut adding five more runs to their overnight total of 487 for 8.

The Delhi batsmen once again showed their reluctance to the apply themselves. In form Virat Kohli (9), on whom the hosts were banking to shore up their cause, failed to stick to the wicket in the second innings as well and was caught by Prashant Naik at the covers while driving Ajit Agarkar. His departure triggered a middle-order collapse and visitors sensing victory went all out with their attack.

Bhatia and Narwal, who also took eight wickets in the match, dug in their heels. The two played contrasting knocks, the seasoned Bhatia preferring to play with caution while Narwal chose to go after the bowling. Bhatia brought up his 50 in 119 balls with nine fours while Narwal raced to his his half century in 53 balls with nine fours and two sixes.

Their 76-minute partnership defied Mumbai a win and the two teams decided to call off the match after the one hour of customary play post-tea.