Vijaywada: Harpreet Singh struck a gritty hundred to lead Madhya Pradesh's fightback before Delhi came up with a strong reply to leave the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal nicely poised at stumps on day two.
MP, resuming the day at 223 for six, did extremely well to reach 338 with Harpreet scoring an unbeaten 107 off 200 balls. The tail too gave him good support, especially Puneet Datey (35).
Frustrated with MP's late resistance, Delhi batsmen came out to bat a determined lot and finished the day at 180 for two.
Rookie Kunal Chandela, a product of university cricket, gave a good account of himself with an unbeaten 73, his second half century plus score in only his second first-class game.
Chandela and Dhruv Shorey (78) shared a 145-run stand for the second wicket after senior batsman Gautam Gambhir fell in the first over of the innings.
Chandela collected five fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 154-ball effort while Shorey smashed 10 boundaries before falling to Ankit Sharma in the 43rd over.
Nitish Rana (17) was batting alongside Chandela at close of play and the duo will look to get as close as possible to MP's first innings total tomorrow.
Earlier, Manan Sharma cleaned up the tail taking four wickets after Harpreet's hundred took MP towards a competitive total.
Brief scores: MP 338 all out in 124.1 overs (Harpreet Singh 107 not out; Manan Sharma 4/46). Delhi 180/2 in 51 overs (Kunal Chandela 73 batting, Dhruv Shorey 78).