Gautam Gambhir in Vijay Hazare Trophy: Veteran Indian opening batsman scored his highest List A score against Kerala.
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Gautam Gambhir, member of India’s World Cup winning squad in 2007 and 2011, has scored his highest List A score against Kerala at Delhi. Continuing on his handsome form in the tournament, Gambhir registered his 20th List A century batting at his home ground.
Sachin Baby, captain of Kerala, had earlier won the toss and chose to bowl. Opening the batting with wicket-keeper batsman Unmukt Chand, Gambhir and him stitched a 172-run opening partnership. Chand, who was in the midst of a terrible run so far, scored his 26th List A half-century to come back into form. He scored 69 (88) with the help of nine fours.
Gambhir continued in the way he was batting since morning even after the dismissal of Chand. He eventually retired hurt in the 40th over. However, by that time, he had scored 151 (104) with the help of 18 fours and four sixes.
In their allotted quota of 50 overs, Delhi scored 392-3 in 50 overs. Dhruv Shorey, who came in to bat at No. 3, scored his seventh List A half-century. Unfortunately for him, he remained unbeaten on 99 (69). His innings comprised of four fours and seven sixes. Debutant Pranshu Vijayran also chipped in with 48* (34).
In which was a comprehensive victory, Delhi won the match by 165 runs as they restricted the opposition on 227-8 in 50 overs. Vasudevan Jagadeesh, who came in to bat at No. 5 for Kerala, top-scored for his team. He ended up scoring 59* (69) with the help of four fours. With bowling figures of 10-1-41-3, Pawan Negi was the pick of the bowlers for Delhi.
Currently, Gambhir is at No. 6 on the list of most runs in the tournament, scoring 298 runs in four matches at an average of 74.50 and a strike rate of 116.86.
Gambhir, 36, last played for India in the first Test of England’s tour of India in 2016 at Rajkot. His last ODI cap also came against England at Dharamsala, albeit more than half a decade ago.
Gambhir’s highest List A score was celebrated gleefully on social media platform Twitter. Below are some of the Twitter reactions:
