Parab lifts up Baroda with brilliant knock

Former champions Baroda put up a disciplined batting display to wipe out their first innings deficit and reach 183 for two in their second innings on the third day of the Ranji Trophy final against Railways, in Baroda, on Saturday.

A brilliant unbeaten 98 by opener Satyajit Parab, after Murali Kartik showed his prowess with the bat to enable Railways score 394 in their first innings and take a lead of 151 runs, gave them hopes of staging a fightback with two days still to go.

Baroda had made 243 in its first innings.

Baroda now enjoy a 32-run lead with eight wickets in hand.

Parab and Connor Williams laid a strong foundation for the hosts with a 102-run opening wicket stand after Railways were out 45 minutes before lunch.

Baroda, 26 without loss at lunch, added 72 runs in the second session with both batsmen looking good. Williams was the first wicket to fall when he edged an outgoing delivery from Tejinderpal Singh to Sanjay Bangar after making 41.

Nayan Mongia tried to hasten the scoring in the final session of play and attempted a few unorthodox shots. But he could not stay long and was caught by Harvinder Singh off Kartik for 15. It was Kartik's first success in the match.

Captain Jacob Martin then joined Parab and the two saw Baroda through the day without any further damage. Martin was unbeaten on nine at stumps.

Parab, whose 291-minute knock was studded with ten boundaries, handled both the medium pacers and the spinners with equal ease. Towards the end of the day he tried to hurry through to his century but was left short by two runs when stumps were drawn.

Earlier, Kartik's career-best 79 and his record 113-run stand for the ninth wicket with Kulamani Parida helped Railways to 394 all out in their first innings.

Resuming at the overnight 318 for eight, Kartik and Parida took the score to 359 before Kartik's valiant knock came to an end. He was stumped by Mongia off Ajit Bhoite for 79, which came off 135 balls and contained seven fours.

Parida, who matched his partner stroke for stroke and hit four fours and a six, added another 35 runs for the tenth wicket with Harvinder Singh before being caught by Irfan Pathan off Valmik Buch for 47. Harvinder Singh remained unbeaten with 17 runs.

Railways failed to cross the 400 run-mark for the first time this season. In seven earlier matches before the final, they had scored more than 400 runs in their first innings.

Zaheer Khan and Buch claimed three wickets each, conceding 93 and 36 runs respectively while Bhoite took two for 67.

Scoreboard

Baroda (Ist innings): 243

Railways (Ist innings):
A Pagnis b Patel 7
S Bangar C Jadhav b Zaheer Khan 62
Tejinderpal Singh lbw Bhoite 67
Y Goud c Martin b Buch 65
A Sharma lbw Khan 8
S Khanorkar c Bhoite b Patel 4
S Sahu lbw Buch 0
S Wankhede lbw Zaheer Khan
M Kartik st Mongia b Bhoite 79
K Parida c I Pathan b Buch 47
Harvinder Singh not out 17
Extras: (LB11, NB13) 24
Total: 394
Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-108, 3-196, 4-206, 5-216, 6-221, 7-240, 8-246, 9-359.
Bowling: Zaheer Khan 37-10-92-3, Patel 25.2-9-49-2, Pathan Jr 15.4-1-85-0, Buch 39-15-86-3, Bhoite 16-1-64-2, Arothe 2-0-7-0.

Baroda (2nd innings):

C Williams c Bangar b Tejinderpal Singh 41
S Parab batting 98
N Mongia c Harvinder b Kartik 15
J Martin batting 9
Extras: (B5, LB2, NB13) 20
Total: (for 2 wkts, 66 overs) 183
Fall of wickets: 1-102, 2-143.
Bowling: Harvinder Singh 12-2-35-0, S Bangar 17-8-35-0, M Kartik 21-4-55-1, S Kanolkar 1-0-6-0, T P Singh 15-0-45-1.

Mail Cricket Editor