Railways in command

Railways batsmen put up a solid performance on day two of their Ranji Trophy semi-final against Punjab to put their team in the driver's seat, at Mohali, on Friday.

Having bowled out the hosts for 249, with the addition of just two runs to their overnight total, the Railways batsmen, led by Sanjay Bangar, who made an unbeaten 77, reached 203 for three at close and look set to take the vital first innings lead when play resumes on Saturday.

The Punjab innings folded early in the morning session with Harvinder Singh and Zakir Hussain accounting for the two wickets. Harvinder finished with figures of five for 66.

Railways started on a cautious note with openers Bangar and Amit Pagnis putting together 46 runs before Pagnis was caught by substitute A Kakaria at fine leg off Vineet Sharma for 27.

Bangar added 52 runs for the second wicket with Tejinder Pal Singh, who made 26 before being caught by Babloo Kumar off Reetinder Singh Sodhi.

Railways were unable to put up huge stand but Bangar stuck to his guns from one end to ensure that his team reached a healthy total. He added another 56 runs for the third wicket with Yere Goud before Sodhi struck again to trap the Yere Goud leg before wicket for 25.

Bangar hit 12 boundaries in his knock and at close he was in the company of Abhay Sharma on 29, with his team 46 runs short of the Punjab's total.

Scoreboard

Punjab (1st innings):

M Sharma c Yere Goud b Harvinder 0
R Ricky c and b Harvinder 33
V Rathore c A Sharma b S Bangar 44
A Kakkar lbw b Harvinder 53
P Dharmani b Parida 18
R S Sodhi b Parida 15
S Mahajan c A Sharma b Harvinder 12
S Sawal b Tejinder 28
G Singh c A Sharma b Harvinder 16
V Sharma not out 1
Babloo Kumar c Parida b Zakir 1
Extras (B5, LB-9, NB-11, W-3) 28
Total (all out) 249
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-76, 3-91, 4-114, 5-130, 6-159, 7-220, 8-247, 9-248.
Bowling: Harvinder 21-5-66-5, Z Hussain 19.3-6-38-1, S Bangar 15-2-57-1, Tejinder Pal Singh 6-0-15-1, K Parida 25-8-49-2, S Khanolkar 5-3-10-0.

Railways (1st innings):

A Pagnis c sub (Kakaria) b Vineet 27
S Bangar batting 77
Tejinderpal Singh c Babloo b Sodhi 26
Yere Goud lbw Sodhi 25
A Sharma batting 29
Extras (B5, LB2, NB9, W3) 19
Total (for 3 wkts, 76 overs) 203
Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-98, 3-154.
Bowling: Gagandeep Singh 17-6-43-0, Vineet Sharma 20-2-58-1, Reetinder Singh Sodhi 22-8-46-2, Babloo Kumar 10-6-10-0, S Mahajan 6-4-7-0, Sandeep Sawal 11-4-32-0.

Mail Cricket Editor