Gujarat maiden Vijay Hazare trophy

Gujarat captain Parthiv Patel scored a century in the Vijay Hazare Trophy final against Delhi. (Source: PTI)

Match referee Pranab Roy made a minor faux pas at the toss, initially giving it to Gujarat captain Parthiv Patel when his Delhi counterpart Gautam Gambhir had called correctly. As eyebrows were raised, Roy quickly rectified his call, allowing Gambhir to choose. The latter opted to field, ostensibly to negate Axar Patel’s spin-punch with the evening dew. The Chinnaswamy pitch for the Vijay Hazare Trophy final looked a bit green but the Delhi skipper seemed to have identified the left-arm tweaker as their main threat.

Axar was the man in form. Coming into the final he had 19 wickets from eight matches at an economy rate of 3.10. Also, he was fresh from his match-winning 6/43 against Tamil Nadu in the semi-final. So, if Gambhir had planned around nullifying Axar, he perhaps was not far off the mark. Little did he know that his team would be done in by the seam bowling of an old warhorse. By the time Axar came on as first change, after 13 overs, the match was all but over. Delhi had been tottering at 44/4, chasing 274 for victory. RP had let it rip, accounting for all four wickets upfront.

At 30, RP looks older than his age. The colour of his beard and a bit of unwanted bulk are the reasons. Throughout his career he has been an enigma — someone who couldn’t live up to his potential. But the left-arm medium fast bowler remains a wily customer, and assisted by conditions he still can make the ball talk, on his day. He did it against Madhya Pradesh in this season’s Ranji Trophy and today, when Gujarat played their most important match in domestic cricket this term, the senior pro rose to the occasion.