Laxmi Ratan Shukla after his century at JU, Salt Lake campus ground, on Wednesday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: Bengal captain Laxmi Ratan Shukla has often been criticised by the cricket fraternity for not doing justice to his talent. His erratic form has been a concern for Bengal over the past few years. However, no one can dare deny that he is an impact player who can change the complexion of the game in a session.

And if the opposition is Delhi, Shukla somehow finds that extra bit of zeal to lift his game.

Wednesday was one such day when Shukla showed what he is capable of. The Bengal captain single-handedly butchered the Delhi attack as he notched up his fourth first-class century.

His 137-ball 132 enabled the hosts to pile up an impressive 522 in their first innings at the Jadavpur University, Salt Lake campus ground.

This is Shukla’s third century against Delhi in domestic cricket (he has two List A centuries vs Delhi in the national one-day meet).

Though one might feel that when Shukla came in, Wriddhiman Saha and Sourav ganguly had already steadied the ship, he should get his due credit as Bengal boast of a long tail which has looked even more longer at times this season.

At stumps, on the second day, Delhi were 68 for two after Ranadeb Bose quickly dismissed openers Ankur Julka (1) and Rahul Yadav (7). Aditya Jain (34n..) and veteran Mithun Manhas (24n..) didn’t have much difficulty in adding 58 runs for the third wicket. Manhas was hit on the chest by a nasty snorter from Ashok Dinda.

It took around five minutes for Manhas to recover and start batting again.

The hero of the day was undoubtedly the Bengal skipper whose three-hour-and-50-minute stay at the wicket also included a 129-run partnership for the eighth wicket with Dinda. That partnership ensured that the hosts crossed the 500-run mark in an innings for the first time in over two years.

The last time they put up a total in excess of 500 was in December, 2007 against Punjab in Siliguri.

Also, very few people would remember when was the last time that three Bengal batsmen scored centuries in an innings!

The day started with overnight centurions Sourav and Wriddihiman starting off from where they had left last evening. Wriddhiman hit a couple of boundaries before he nicked one off Pradeep Sangwan to ’keeper Bisht, who lapped up his third catch.

Shukla who came in at the fall of Wriddhiman’s wicket was watchful during the first few minutes.

But that was it. He announced his intentions with a pull off Sangwan that went over the deep mid-wicket for a six.

Sourav, on the other hand, was looking solid as he drove Sangwan and Ishant through the off-side. He raced to his 150 when he hit Sangwan for three boundaries in an over.

A pull over mid-on, a punch off the backfoot and a straight drive. However, in the last delivery of that Sangwan over, he holed out in the deep, caught by captain Rajat Bhatia.

With Sourasish Lahiri being run-out after a mix-up, Shukla suddenly upped the ante.

Easily one of the biggest hitters in this Bengal team (Sourav and Manoj Tiwary being the other two), he started a furious counter-attack. He launched into Parvinder Awana hitting him for a six over mid-wicket. When left-arm spinner Vikash Mishra was brought on, he hit him for maximum.

Dinda, back from his India stint, hit quite a few cross-batted shots. The slowness of the pitch helped his cause as he twice lifted Ishant over mid-on for boundaries. His 41 consisted of five boundaries and two sixes.

Shukla completed his century in a classic manner. He lifted leg-spinner Aditya Jain over long-on for a huge six (the second time the ball got lost in the match) to reach the mark in only 90 deliveries.

It is ironical that Shukla and Bengal saved their best for the last… But sadly, it was a little late.