Sachin Tendulkar hit a fluent half-century against Railways in the Ranji Trophy to get himself in form ahead of the Test series against England.

Mumbai 1st inns: 244-3 (69 overs) vs Railways

Tendulkar drove Sanjay Bangar through the covers for a boundary to bring up his half-century in style. The master batsman took 69 balls to reach the landmark, having hit seven fours and a six.

He then steered Bangar between the first and second slip for another four to bring up the 100-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Ajinkya Rahane.

Rahane eased his way to 84 from 154 balls.

The focus was clearly on Tendulkar at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, who walked out to bat at No. 5. He started off with two runs to deep square leg from the sixth ball he faced, from left-arm pacer Hardik Rathod and in the same over a huge appeal for LBW against the veteran was turned down.

Tendulkar got his first boundary from the 31st ball he faced when he cut Anureet Singh through the point region, in the 55th over of the innings.

His second boundary was a bit streaky as he bottom edged Rathod past the wicketkeeper. Tendulkar then changed gears as he lofted left-arm spinner Ashish Yadav over mid-on for a four and in the same over drove a full toss back past the bowler for another boundary.

Tendulkar also hit a six in that session when he slog sweeped off-spinner Shivakant Shukla over the midwicket region.