Delhi's seventh Ranji title came on a day when India scored a historic win over Australia at Perth, and, ironically, with two Delhi players, Ishant Sharma and Virender Sehwag, playing crucial roles.
More importantly, it ended a 16-year drought that had witnessed Delhi go sans a win after their final demolition of Tamil Nadu in 1991-92. In the intervening period, Delhi had made it to the decider on only one occasion -- in 1996-97, when they came up second-best to Mumbai in Gwalior, a neutral venue.
It is sheer irony that the next time they went on to make the final, Mumbai was the venue, a neutral one at that -- the first since the Gwalior outing.
It was poetic justice that Delhi would go on to win a long-desired Ranji title at the home ground of the team that beat them in their last final appearance.
Having said that, Delhi were never favoured to triumph this season. In the opening round they were a tad inconsistent -- a few good wins interspersed with a few vapid draws.
To explain the point further, Delhi's Group A wins over Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu were punctuated by disappointing results against Saurashtra, Mumbai, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka. However, to their credit, they stuck to the task, especially when under pressure.
This show of character was something that hadn't been seen in the Delhi teams of recent years. To put the point across, they finished third in their group last season, thereby failing to make it to the last four stage and a couple of season's before were fighting desperately to stave off relegation.
So what is it that has worked so well for Delhi this season?
"A good environment where everyone is comfortable and helps each other in every possible way," believes Rajat Bhatia, whose unbeaten century (139) in the first innings was crucial to Delhi's fortunes in the final.
"There's no pressure and we don't even think that we are playing in Ranji Trophy."
Teammate and opener Aakash Chopra, who aggregated 783 runs in 16 innings, concurs.
"It is difficult to strike that balance and that's what we have achieved this year," he explains, before going on to give an added reason.
"Earlier, each year we had three or four heroes. This year we had 11 or even more. Every player made a contribution and there're people who stood up and bailed us out when the situation demanded."
Coach Vijay Dahiya though believes that it was concentrating on a particular goal that helped things, something, he says, wasn't the case with previous teams.
"What I wanted was that the team should worry only about cricket," explains Dahiya. "I wouldn't say it wasn't the case earlier but what we missed then was that we weren't playing as a team.
"That's the thing we have worked out this time; we stuck together as a team. Also, there was full cooperation from the management."
The affable coach is also of the opinion that every player should be given an opportunity at some point of time.
"Everyone in this team has got a game or two," he points out. "We brought in Aditya Jain only in the semi-final and he made useful contributions. So even as we go on to the next season all our players have some Ranji games under their belt."
His bowling consultant, former Indian seamer Manoj Prabhakar seems to believe in the 'small is beautiful' phrase though.
"A good combination and doing those little things right did the trick for us," he explains, while being unable to point out what was missing in the teams of the yore.
"I don't know, or haven't enquired, where the previous teams went wrong but this team has worked really hard," he reasons.
But, probably, the best explanation in this regard comes from captain Gautam Gambhir, who has led from the front, scoring 730 runs in just five matches.
"When you are a senior player and you have played Ranji for many years, it becomes your responsibility," he reasons, pointing out to his own role as well as that of the other seniors in the team.
"When the situation demands you need to stand out and deliver."
Coming from the man who refused to budge under pressure this season, this palpably comes across as the best possible reason behind Delhi's triumph.
But even as you seem content with the explanation, Gambhir provides an addendum.
"All guys are passionate and they know what playing for Delhi is all about," he says. "We have seen the lows. So it is important to enjoy the high."
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