Gautam Gambhir made sure he went down on a high as he scored a sparkling hundred in his final essay for Delhi against Andhra Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy.
His 112-run innings, which was his 43rd hundred in first-class cricket, was eventually brought to an end by Mohammed Khan in the 67th over.
The former Indian opener earlier had announced his farewell from all formats of the game in an emotional video and that this match for Delhi against Andhra Pradesh would be the last time he would be seen playing professional cricket.
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He walked into the ground with a guard of honour from the Andhra players. Andhra Pradesh scored 390 in their first innings, powered by a 187-run innings by Hiten Dalal.
But it was Gambhir who stole the spotlight with a hundred walking into retirement. The left-hander has been one of India’s most prolific openers and played crucial roles in the country’s World Cup wins in 2007 and 2011.
He had also led a change in the fortunes of Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by making them win the tournament twice in three years (2012-2014).
Brief Scores: Delhi 409/7 (Gautam Gambhir 112, Dhruv Shorey 98, Manish Golamaru 3/126, Shoaib Khan 3/138), lead Andhra 380 by 29 runs.