Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018-19, Final, Mumbai vs Delhi, Review: Aditya Tare's gritty knock helps the Khadoos Army clinch the title

Mumbai has managed to overcome a mighty scare against Delhi in the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy as they gunned down the tricky total of 178 runs. It was the bowlers who set things up sensationally for them after their skipper opted to field. However, it was Aditya Tare who found form at the right time in the chase when his team was in the dire straits and played a 71-run knock to take his team over the line.

Navdeep Saini and Kulwant Khejroliya’s fiery opening spells had left Mumbai reeling in the first powerplay. The former had wrecked havoc with his wily lengths outside the off-stump. He sent back the likes of Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane and Suryakumar Yadav after which his new-ball partner got better of Shreyas Iyer to leave them struggling at 40/4.

Mumbai could’ve been five down soon as Siddhesh Lad was also dismissed by Saini only for him to overstep and this is where the game changed. Tare and Lad kept their calm and didn’t take any risk at the start. Once they got their eyes in, it became easy to bat even as the other bowlers couldn’t create more chances. Their 105-run partnership for the fifth wicket all but confirmed Mumbai’s victory. Though Manan Sharma pinned Tare in front of the stumps for a well made 71, Lad didn’t let the opposition get a sniff and took the team close to the victory.

He got out on 48 with only a couple of runs needing for victory and the formalities were completed by Shivam Dubey and Dhawal Kulkarni as the Mumbai camp elated in delight to celebrate the title victory.

Hapless collapse from Delhi

After being invited to bat first early in the morning, Delhi batsmen crumbled in front of the new ball. Tushar Deshpande and Dhawal Kulkarni rocked them early in the innings as the skipper Gautam Gambhir failed to get going. They were reduced to 21/3 in the sixth over of the innings and the fall of wickets continued at the regular intervals since then.

Himmat Singh was the only batsman who showed some resolve scoring 41 runs and Mumbai bowlers never let them off the hook. It was only due to the late flourish from Pawan Negi and Subodh Bhati that they reached 177 runs and were bundled out with 26 balls to spare.

Though they tried hard to make a match out of the low total, Mumbai had enough firepower in them to overcome the early scare and clinch the title.

Brief Scores

Delhi 177/10 after 45.4 overs (H Singh 41; S Dubey 3/29, D Kulkarni 3/30)

Mumbai 180/6 after 35 overs (A Tare 71, S Lad 48; N Saini 3/53)

Result: Mumbai won by four wickets.

Man of the Match: Aditya Tare