Gambhir takes smiles off Zimbabweans

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">vijayawada: every one gets a chance sometime or the other but only a microscopic minority grab it with both hands. delhi opener gautam gambhir belongs to the latter group. the southpaw playing for the board president''s xi tore the none too impressive zimbabwe attack to shreds to notch up a career-best 218 in their three-day tour opener at the picturesque indira gandhi municipal corporation stadium, here on friday.at close of play on the first day, president''s xi had rattled up 361 for three off 97 overs. it was a magnificent effort from the 20-year-old left-hander and it put his team in the driver''s seat. his 218 came off 288 balls after a stay of 406 minutes at the crease and was studded with 39 exquisitely timed fours. the huge crowd, comprising mostly youngsters, had their money''s worth as gambhir took to the zimbabwean attack as a fish takes to water. captain rahul dravid won the toss and had no hesitation to bat first on a wicket, which did not afford any assistance either to the medium pacers or the spinners. openers gambhir and khoda started off with a flourish adding 87 for the first wicket. the duo went neck-and-neck as they completely dominated the proceedings. khoda was the first to go when the rajasthan opener tried, once too often, to lift left-arm spinner raymond price out of the ground. he was caught by travis friend at mid on for 41 (6x4, 1x6). this brought dravid to the crease and gambhir completely overshadowed his senior partner. the lefthander found the gaps with alarming regularity much to the chagrin of the visitors. he jumped from 43 to 55 with a flurry of fours and it took him just 79 balls to reach the first of many a landmark that was set during the day. post-lunch session saw gambhir in a more punishing mood as he moved from 88 to 97 in a jiffy plundering nine runs from price and then reached the coveted three-figure mark with a sweep off the same bowler. the 100 came off 147 balls and had 19 fours in it. if the zimbabweans thought that the opener would lose his concentration after getting to his hundred then they were in for a big surprise. gambhir went on as if he had just started his innings. in the meantime, dravid, who completed his half-century, was gobbled up by wicketkeeper tatenda taibu off price. his 50 came off 130 balls and had six fours. he added 175 for the second wicket with gambhir, who made 121 of those. kale joined the rampaging gambhir. the tiring southpaw began to score his runs in boundaries and the zimbabweans helped his cause by taking the new ball. he moved from 172 to 200 with the help of seven fours, six of which came off 10 balls from streak. with gambhir on 196, watambwa tried to bounce him out. but the opener disdainfully dispatched the delivery to the square leg fence to notch up his second consecutive first class double century. <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">scoreboard:</span> board president''s xi 1st innings: g. gambhir c a. flower b mbangwa 218 g. khoda c friend b price 41 r. dravid c taibu b price 50 a. kale not out 40 p. mullick not out 0 extras (b1, lb3, w1, nb7) 12 total (for three wickets) 361 fall of wickets: 1-87, 2-262, 3-356. bowling: streak 17-7-52-0, watambwa 17-2-84-0, friend 11-1-56-0, price 26-5-102-2, mbangwa 19-8-41-1, gripper 7-0-22-0. </div> </div>