PUNE: It was a day when the old held hands of the new to help Delhi take control of their
Ranji Trophy semifinal against Bengal at the MCA stadium here on Monday. Delhi openers - veteran
Gautam Gambhir and young
Kunal Chandela - shared a 232-run stand that saw their side finish Day II at 271 for three - just 15 runs shy of Bengal’s first innings tally of 286. Resuming on 269/7, Bengal’s tail failed to wag and they lost their remaining wickets for the addition of a mere 17 runs.
The stage was set for Gambhir to take charge. The former captain was at his best and led from the front by playing some glorious shots all around the park. He was ably supported by Chandela who grew from strength to strength before taking the attack to Bengal.
Bengal bowlers failed to maintain a good line and length and gave away easy runs. Boundaries came in abundance as Delhi went to lunch at 88 without loss - 72 of them coming from hits to the fence. Having set a good platform, Gambhir and Chandela simply toyed with the Bengal attack in the second session.
However, things could had been different had Sudip Chatterjee held on to an easy chance at first slip when Gambhir edged one while playing away from his body off Ashok Dinda. The lefthander, who was on 44 then, did not give another chance as he played his trademark pull shots to ring in the boundaries. Gambhir, who was involved in an ugly verbal spat with Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary when the two sides last met in 2015, was calm and composed on Monday.
He displayed exemplary restraint when Dinda on his follow-through picked up the ball and had a shy at the stumps - the ball missing the mark and hitting the batsman on his back. Gambhir brought up his 42th first-class century by dispatching left-arm spinner Amir Gani for consecutive fours through cover. He survived a strong appeal for caught-behind off Gani when on 101 but the umpire turned it down.
The 23-year-old Chandela, who skipped his fifth semester IT examination to play this match, but will return home happy after notching up his maiden first-class century in only his third game. The youngster who hit back-to-back triple tons in Vijay Hazare Trophy, played some flowing cover drives. He lifted Gani for a huge six over long on and punished pacer B Amit for his wayward bowling by notching four boundaries in an over.
Bengal staged a late comeback by picking up three wickets. Chandela was the first to go as wicketkeeper Shreevats Goswami dived to hold a fine nick offered by the batsman off Amit.
Dhruv Shenoy followed soon after as he mistimed a pull off a short one from Dinda that kissed his gloves on way to the wicket-keeper.
The day’s action ended with Bengal picking up the prized wicket of Gambhir who was caught behind after failing to keep the ball down when Shami bowled one that cut into his ribcage. By then, Gambhir had accumulated 126 runs, his third century this season, which came off 216 balls with the help of 26 boundaries.
Brief scores: Bengal (1st innings) 286 v Delhi (1st innings) 271/3 (Gambhir 127, Chandela 113)
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