Impressive Shikhar hits first century

Having twice narrowly missed scoring his maiden Ranji hundred in the earlier games 87 vs Railways, 88 vs MP, left-handed opener Shikhar Dh...

Having twice narrowly missed scoring his maiden Ranji hundred in the earlier games 87 vs Railways, 88 vs MP, left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan was more determined on Monday when he went in to bat against Karnataka at the Jamia Millia ground.

8216;8216;I had made up my mind to stay in the middle for as long as possible and not to miss the opportunity of scoring a hundred. Although I didn8217;t target the century, the lost opportunities were troubling me,8217;8217; Dhawan said after his 366-minute 121 not out on the first day.

It was only in the final session that he showed glimpses of his attacking nature, striking left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi for two mighty sixes. The second one, over mid-wicket, brought up his maiden Ranji hundred.

A natural stroker of the ball, Dhawan, who earned the 8216;man of the series8217; in the Under-19 World Cup in Dhaka earlier this year, curbed his aggressive tendencies to play the anchor role. Scores of 47 in the first session, 34 in the second, and 40 in the final session when Karnataka bowled 20 overs tell the story of the youngster8217;s determination and discipline.

His 103-run stand for the second wicket with Abhinav Bali 43: 210m, 4215;4 helped Delhi recover from the early dismissal of Aakash Chopra. But the visitors hit back in the final session taking three wickets in nine overs for 29 runs to leave Delhi at 205-4.

Playing in only his first Ranji season, Dhawan has already shown to his senior colleagues what determination, discipline and desire could do to lift the performance of a sagging, out-of-sorts team.

BRIEF SCORES

IN MUMBAI
Gujarat: 210/8 N Patel 32, P Patel 87; A M Malvi 3/22, R Powar 5/66 vs Mumbai

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IN INDORE
Railways: 255/5 S Bangar 63, A Pagnis 93, JP Yadav 47; Y Golwalkar 4/84 vs MP

IN DELHI
Delhi: 205/4 S Dhawan 121 batting, A Bali 43; S Joshi 3/48 vs Karnataka

IN VISHAKHAPATNAM
Bengal: 206/6 Arindam Das 59, D Dasgupta 48, L R Shukla 51 no; Venugopal Rao 2/35 vs Andhra

IN HYDERABAD
Hyderabad: 236/8 D Vinay Kumar 66, AS Yadav 55; S Srivastava 3/63, P Gupta 3/40 vs Uttar Pradesh

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IN CHENNAI
TN: 191/7 K Vasudevadas 59 no; V Singh 3/60, A Uniyal 3/42 vs Punjab

IN AURUNGABAD
Assam: 201 G Sharma 77; I Siddiqui 5/68, R Khirid 2/23 vs Maharashtra: 22/0