Nothing succeeds like success: Alam

It took only four balls for the celebrations to begin.

Punjab had gone in to lunch needing just five to defeat defending champions Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy semi-final.

On resumption, the Punjab lads thronged the players' balcony at the Wankhede and, the instant Pankaj Dharmani scored the winning run, they -- led by Test star Yuvraj Singh -- surged onto the field to celebrate.

Coach Intikhab Alam joined them at a more leisurely pace, reaching the wicket in a light jog-walk to take Dharmani and Gagandeep Singh into his embrace.

For Punjab, it was delayed payback -- exactly ten years ago, they had lost to Mumbai in the Ranji trophy final at the Wankhede.

"It is a great experience. Beating Mumbai in Mumbai was the biggest challenge," said Alam, the former Pakistan Test star and captain and now coach of Punjab. And at his door, the congnoscenti ascribe the team's ability to finally match its natural flair with rock solid performance.

"It was an absorbing game of cricket and I think our team handled the pressure better," Alam told rediff.com. "In hindsight, yes, I think it was a good toss to lose."

Mumbai had won the toss and elected to bat, but the wicket unexpectedly eased out considerably on the third and fourth day to help Punjab pull off the upset.

Punjab captain Dinesh Mongia also agreed that the third and fourth days were the best for batting.

In the second innings, with a victory target of 294, Dharmani, with an unbeaten 86, stole the show for his team. He rallied with the young Gaurav Gupta for a 99-run fifth wicket partnership first and then waged the battle against the experience of the Mumbai bowlers along with a sturdy tail.

Mongia said that though the game had been slipping from Punjab's hands "from almost the first day," he thought the boys delivered under pressure and the batting probably made the difference between the two teams.

"Dharmani played one of the biggest knocks of his career but yes, till we won it was really difficult to sit in the dressing room, we were nervous," he said, adding that the strategy of playing five bowlers had worked for his team.

"I don't think playing in such an important match with only four bowlers is wise. They had very good batting depth. What would happen if one of our bowlers failed to click? Playing five bowler means you are playing attacking cricket," said Mongia.

The home team's dressing room meanwhile was in mourning. Mumbai skipper Sairaj Bahutule didn't feel like talking, thoiugh he did dutifully come out to meet the press and dissected the defeat. Chandrakant Pandit, the coach, tried to keep his normally cheerful smile in place.

"I think they deserved to win," he said. The batting had disappointed again, "taken too long to learn," remarked the coach. Bowlers had bowled to the plan on the final morning but were not good enough.

"We should've had 300 on the board. Those seven runs make a very big psychological difference," he said.

Punjab have won the Ranji Trophy only once, in 1993. This was their first entry into the semi-final of the premier domestic competition since the Elite and Plate divisions were made. And significantly, the PCA discarded Bhupinder Singh and opted for Alam as the team coach.

Alam himself believes his contribution has been negligible.

"I always say nothing succeeds like success," said Alam, "I think it is the boys who deserve the credit for their performances. I have been a minor part of the bigger scheme and anyway, I don't believe that you can change the ethos of the team in such a short time."

Thinking back through the game, Alam said even when his team was bowled out for 126 in the first innings, he did not lose heart. He had tasted defeat before, many times -- while playing for Surrey in the English county circuit, while playing for Pakistan in Tests. And, he pointed out, he had also as a member of these teams watched them strangle self-doubt and emerge victorious.

What it took, he felt, was heart; an attitude of not giving up on a game till the game was done.

When the fact that they had triumphed over the champion side finally sank in, this is what the Punjab players unanimously referred to -- the belief their coach had instilled in them, that nothing was lost till it was lost, and that the only way to go was to fight till the last ball, the last run.