Railways have Baroda in trouble

Day one of the Ranji Trophy final belonged to Railways after they skittled out Baroda for 243 and then capped a fine day by replying with 91 for one in the first innings at the Gujarat State Fertilizers Corporation ground in Baroda on Thursday.

Medium pacers Harvinder Singh and Sanjay Bangar tore the heart of Baroda's innings, even as Connor Williams, Ajit Bhoite and Tushar Arothe bailed the hosts out thrice with fifty-plus knocks.

At close, left-hander Tejinder Singh was batting with an elegant 60 in the company of Sanjay Bangar, on 21.

Harvinder bowled with sustained hostility to finish with four for 59. He rarely wavered while bowling 20 overs under the scorching sun.

Bangar was a good foil at the other end grabbing three wickets for 55 runs.

On a greenish wicket, Baroda asked Railways to field. But they paid a heavy price for the decision from the first ball, when Harvinder scalped Satyajit Parab.

Bangar sent back India stumper Nayan Mongia for four and then Jacob Martin fell to Harvinder's pace without scoring, to leave Baroda reeling at 30 for three.

However, Arothe and Williams somewhat steadied the innings with a stand of 77 off 17.2 overs. Arothe took the attack to the rival camp, smacking a six and seven fours in his 65-ball knock before he was out just before lunch to a splendid catch.

Williams, after fending away the big bowlers, fell to off-spinner K Parida, whose action looked suspect. He played the anchor role for 130 balls and hit seven fours.

After lunch, Baroda nosedived to 150 for six before Bhoite, with support from fast bowler Rakesh Patel, gave the score some respectibility.

Bhiote hit eight fours in his 57. Patel stayed with him for about 16 overs in a stand of 69 runs. Bhoite was clean bowled by a swinging delivery which also hastened the team's end.

However, Railways suffered a setback when their captain and wicketkeeper Abhay Sharma was hit on the face from a Murali Karthik delivery and had to retire bleeding. Though he came back with six stiches to his upper lip, Sudhir Wankhede kept wickets.

Railways started shakily as Amit Pagnis lost his leg stump to Patel's express delivery. But Tejinder SIngh was unperturbed. He confidently played the Baroda bowlers and had 60 runs to show off 58 deliveries by close of play.

Scoreboard

Baroda (1st innings):
S Parab c Sharma b Harvinder 0
C Williams c Goud b Parida 65
N Mongia c Khanolkar b Bangar 4
J Martin c Sharma b Harvinder 0
T Arothe c Khanolkar b Harvinder 52
H Jadhav lbw Parida 10
A Bhoite b Bangar 57
R Patel c Karthik b Bangar 16
V Buch not out 10
Z Khan c Wankhede b Harvinder 5
I Pathan run out 0
Extras: (NB21, B3) 24
Total: (all out off 64.1 overs and 292 minutes) 243.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-20, 3-30, 4-107, 5-149, 6-150, 7-219, 8-238, 9-243.
Bowling: Harvinder 20-5-59-4, Bangar 12.1-2-55-3, Karthik 12-2-70-0, Parida 16-5-36-2, T Singh 4-0-20-0.

Railways (1st innings):
A Pagnis b Patel 7
S Bangar batting 21
Tejinder Pal Singh batting 60
Extras: (NB3) 3
Total: (off 23 overs and 104 mins) 91 for one.
Bowling: Z Khan 8-2-26-0, R Patel 9-0-29-1, I Pathan 2-0-25-0, V Buch 4-2-11-0.