The track was tricky and it was the 75-run first innings lead over Delhi which tilted the balance in Rest of India's favour in the Irani Cup, said victorious captain Anil Kumble.
VADODARA: The track was tricky and it was the 75-run first innings lead over Delhi which tilted the balance in Rest of India's favour in the Irani Cup, said victorious captain Anil Kumble.
"It was not those kind of wickets where you go out and play your shots. It was quite difficult and I think the 75-run first innings lead proved crucial in the end," Kumble said.
Rest of India proved better in fielding as well, pulling off some stunning catches over the last four days.
"Oh yes, catches win matches and it was a great fielding effort by the side. We managed really some extraordinary catches which made a lot of difference," Kumble said.
"Overall, it was a good team effort. Bowlers did well and the batsmen also managed to spend some time out there, even though not all of them scored big. I'm happy with the way it went," said Kumble.
Chasing 378 runs for an improbable win, Delhi folded for 190 in their second essay with Gautam Gambhir (91) scoring almost half the runs. The Delhi vice captain also felt that his side lost the plot in the first innings itself.
"After restricting their star-studded batting line-up for 252, we needed to put up at least 300-350, considering our batting depth. But unfortunately that didn't happen and we simply messed it up in the first innings," lamented a dejected Gambhir.
In the second innings too, Gambhir felt the Delhi batsmen did not show enough application.
"The track was not easy but you needed to grind and hang in there," said the left-hander.
Delhi coach Vijay Dahiya couldn't hide his disappointent either and rued Gambhir didn't get enough support from others.
"It was a case of just one man standing. He didn't get any support at all. We lost three quicks wickets yesterday and didn't apply ourselves today," he said.
Shifting his focus to the Ranji season, Dahiya said, "We got a good warm-up ahead of the new season and the performance of players like Chetanya Nanda is one of the positives we take from this match."
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