Gautam Gambhir kick-started his Ranji Trophy campaign on the best-possible note, scoring a brilliant century to guide Delhi to a commanding 269 for four at stumps on the second day of the Ranji Trophy group A’s encounter.
After captain Ishant Sharma’s five-wicket haul helped Delhi to bowl out Assam for 258, the capital-based side began disastrously as Unmukt Chand and Dhruv Shorey were dismissed with only 44 runs on the board. However, Gambhir and Nitish Rana put Delhi in command of the proceedings by scoring sublime centuries. The 207 runs partnership between the duo was broken when Rana was sent back by Abu Nechim for 110.
Gambhir, who was relieved of captaincy before the start of the season looked in fine touch right from the word go and raced to his fifty off just 65 balls with the help of 9 hits to the fence. His slowed down a bit after reaching his fifty before hitting two lofted boundaries off left-arm spinner Rahul Singh to score his 40th first-class century. In all, he hit 21 boundaries and remained unbeaten on 136.
Meanwhile, since the century, Gambhir has been overwhelmed with congratulatory messages and made sure to respond to his fans. The southpaw took to Twitter to thank his fans and hoped that his knock would help Delhi start the season on a winning note.
“Humbled by all d kind words n lavish praises. Hope this knock helps Delhi start on a winning note @BCCI #RanjiTrophy2017,” he tweeted.
Humbled by all d kind words n lavish praises. Hope this knock helps Delhi start on a winning note @BCCI #RanjiTrophy2017
— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) October 7, 2017
Gambhir, the star of the 2007 World T20 and 2011 World Cup, returned to the Test team last year but failed to grab the opportunity and has not been recalled since then.