Opener Gautam Gambhir enhanced his chances of a recall to the Indian Test squad with an unbeaten hundred as Delhi drew their four-day Ranji Trophy Super League tie against Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday.
The left-handed Gambhir, in fine form this season in Twenty20 internationals, slammed 137 in Delhi's score of 252 for three in 96 overs while chasing a target of 387 set by the home team. Gambhir and his opening partner Aakash Chopra, who made 81, pursued victory when they resumed at the overnight score of 59 for no loss.
They compiled 188 at just under three an over to set the chase up but a triple strike by Mumbai in the space of 11 balls put the skids.
Gambhir, who struck 14 fours and a six in his 278-ball knock after having top-scored with 89 in the first essay, and Chopra - who hit 10 fours and a six in 218 balls, added 116 in 40 overs in the first session to leave Delhi 212 short of the target.
But Mumbai pacer Aavishkar Salvi dismissed Chopra and Delhi captain Virender Sehwag, both lbw, off successive balls and then Abhishek Nair sent back Virar Kohli (0) in the next over to undermine Delhi's aspirations.
At close, Gambhir and Mithun Manhas (16) were unbeaten. Delhi picked up three points from the tie by virtue of their first innings lead to boost their tally to 11 while Mumbai secured one to increase theirs to nine.
Delhi started the day in aggressive fashion by carting the Mumbai bowlers around. But a change in strategy by the home team, who started to bowl wide of off stump with a packed off-side field, slowed them down after lunch.
The eighth over after the interval provided Mumbai with the wickets of Chopra and Sehwag (0) and left Salvi on a hat-trick which he could not accomplish. But at the other end, Nair produced a good ball to trap Kohli leg before for a duck as Delhi slid from 188 for no loss to 189 for three.
Gambhir immediately downed the shutters and crawled his way from 80 to 100 in 60 balls. He took just over half an hour and faced 23 balls to inch from 99 to three figures as Delhi put on only 28 runs in 13 overs for three wickets in the first hour after lunch.
Going to tea at 227 for three, Delhi continued in the same vein till the match was called off with mutual consent just before the last hour's play.
Mumbai (1st innings): 166
Delhi (1st innings): 251
Mumbai (2nd innings): 471 for 9 decl.
Delhi (2nd innings)(overnight 59-0):
A Chopra lbw Salvi 81
G Gambhir not out 137
V Sehwag lbw Salvi 0
V Kohli lbw Nair 0
M Manhas not out 16
Extras: (lbw 5, w 6, nb 7) 18
Total: (for 3 wkts, in 96 overs) 252
Bowling: Salvi 17-4-31-2, Agarkar 14-7-16-0, Powar 26-4-77-0, Nair 19-4-57-1, B Patel 15-1-42-0, Rohit Sharma 3-0-6-0, Naik 2-0-18-0.
