Gautam Gambhir hit a stylish 147 as Delhi piled up the runs against Uttar Pradesh on the opening day of the four-day Ranji Trophy cricket match, which also saw former international player Ajay Jadeja making a comeback to the domestic circuit after three years.
Jadeja, who was forced to miss the action for his alleged involvement in the match-fixing scandal in 2000, made a return to competitive cricket following a high court order.
Though the flamboyant player did not get a chance to bat today, he is next in the order.
Gambhir and Salil Oberoi (80) placed Delhi in a commanding position at 267 for two at stumps.
Flaying the opposition bowlers at the Green Park stadium, the two batsmen put on 231 runs for the opening wicket to lay the foundation for a huge total.
At close, Pradeep Chawla (19) and Mithun Manhas (15) were at the crease.
Gambhir's 147 came with the help of 17 boundaries and one six off 203 balls while Oberoi's 216-ball knock contained 10 hits to the fence.
The two players dominated the bowlers till the tea break as Uttar Pradesh forced the first breakthrough in the final session of play.
Oberoi was run-out while attempting a single and in the same over Gambhir also lost his wicket when he was caught behind Prashant Malviya off left-arm spinner Praveen Gupta.
Scoreboard
Delhi (Ist innings):
G Gambhir c Malviya b Praveen Gupta 147
S Oberoi run out 80
P Chawla batting 19
M Manhas batting 15
Extras: (b-3, nb-2, w-1) 6
Total: (for 2 wkts, 90 overs) 267
Fall of wickets: 1-231, 2-231.
Bowling: A W Zaidi 16-2-53-0, Shalabh Srivastava 16-3-64-0, Lalit Verma 18-2-43-0, Praveen Gupta 25-6-66-1, Gyanendra Pandey 13-1-29-0, Rizwan Shamshad 1-0-6-0, Jyoti Yadav 1-0-3-0.
