Bristol: Gautam Gambhir finally found some form and that too with a century in County Cricket here on Friday. Gambhir was absolutely impeccable in his 106-run knock against Gloucestershire which gave his side, Essex confidence to pin down their opposition on the fourth and final day of the first-class match that was played at Bristol. This is Gambhir`s 34th first-class century of his career.
Essex were upbeat about its chances after Gambhir’s ton and declared their second innings at the score of 7/285. Gloucestershire were left to chase a mammoth total of 432 runs in the final innings of the match. Gambhir was not even a shadow in his past four innings that he played and was dismissed for 31,21,2 and 0. The big knock was surely around the corner and that too coming in at crucial time, which made it much more impactful for the southpaw and Essex.
The Indian domestic season will be starting soon and getting some kind of form back before that is must for him if Gambhir wants to get his place back at the opening slot in Indian Test team. He already knows that Shikhar Dhawan has raised the bar of the performance and to be back in the team, crossing that would be just a first step towards making his way into the squad.
Meanwhile, Gambhir looked in complete control throughout the time he held onto the crease. He was unbeaten on 100 at the tea time and got this three figure mark in just 141 balls. He departed after scoring 106 off Craig Miles' delivery. Before getting out, he gave some tough time to Payne and Will Gidman, hitting them all over the ground.
Earlier, Gambhir made his way into the nervous nineties with a four and a big six off medium pacer Benny Howell. Gambhir just stuck to the basics and played the ball on its merit which made his stroke playing look much more confident. He rotated the strike quite well, which helped Essex to post such a great total in the second innings to give his side a great chance of winning this contest.