Zaheer's seven puts Mumbai closer to 38th Ranji crown

Mumbai's Abhishek Nayar had managed to break the dangerous partnership between Uttar Pradesh's semi-final stars Shivakant Shukla and Parvinder Singh by removing the latter minutes before lunch. Still, at the interval, with Uttar Pradesh at 172 for four and Shukla and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar looking solid on 80 and 13 respectively, the Ranji Trophy final appeared to be quite open.

But the Mumbai think-tank wasn't worried at all. After all, Zaheer Khan, who had for a better part of the first session, worn rubber shoes instead of spikes, had promised to deliver in the second session. And Zaheer kept that promise.

His seven wickets for 54 runs, including four wickets in eight deliveries, steered UP's first innings collapse and gave Mumbai a 157-run lead. Openers Wasim Jaffer (74 not out) and Vinayak Samant (53 not out) then added 130 runs before stumps on Day Three to virtually seal Mumbai's 38th Ranji title.

Zaheer, who travelled a whole season for Mumbai without playing a match before shifting loyalties to Baroda, was satisfied to have come good for what he has always considered his home team.

Ultimate goal
"When I came to Mumbai from Srirampur, I had two dreams: to make it to the Mumbai Ranji team and eventually to the Indian team," said Zaheer, arguably the best pace bowler in the world at the moment. "Since there was no place in the team for me, I moved to Baroda to achieve my ultimate goal. But all this while I have been staying in Mumbai. So it feels nice to have delivered in the two finals that I have played for Mumbai."

When Zaheer, playing only his third match for Mumbai after debuting in the 2006-07 final, was brought on for his last spell, Uttar Pradesh were 214 for 4. With Shukla (99) needing one run to complete his second successive ton and all-rounder Bhuvaneshwar Kumar striking the ball well, UP were very much in the hunt to come near Mumbai's first innings score of 402.

However, Zaheer deprived Shukla of a ton, trapping the southpaw for 99. Ajit Agarkar then got rid of Bhuvaneshwar (41) off the first ball of his next delivery. Sahil Kukreja, substituting for Sachin Tendulkar who has viral infection, accepted a sharp chance at first slip off Bhuvaneshwar's edge.

Then, Zaheer struck twice in succession in successive overs to finish the UP innings for 245 (at one stage 239 for six).

RP Singh prevented the pace spearhead from taking a hat-trick after Zaheer forced Praveen Kumar (6) and Amir Khan (0) to nick to wicketkeeper Vinayak Samant off consecutive deliveries.

In the next over, Zaheer fooled Piyush Chawla (18) and Praveen Gupta (0) off successive balls to pull the curtains down on the UP innings. He now has a second chance to get a hat-trick. But for that, he will have to wait for UP's second innings to begin.