Railways in driver's seat

Railways took control of their Ranji Trophy semi-final against Bengal after scoring a formidable 557 in their first innings and then reducing the visitors to 166 for five on the third day, in Delhi on Friday.

On an action-filled day, when 278 runs were scored and 11 wickets scalped, Railways showed they are masters in their own backyard as the Bengal players, including India skipper Sourav Ganguly, were left licking their wounds after some reckless batting.

Overnight batsman Yere Goud (127) completed his third century of the season while all rounder J P Yadav joined the run feast with a quickfire 49 before Railways' innnings folded half an hour after lunch.

Replying to the mammoth total, Bengal had a shaky start, with their openers Amitabh Chakraborty and Deep Dasgupta unable to negotiate the pace of new ball bowlers Harvinder Singh and J P Yadav.

After five of the top order Bengal batsmen, including Ganguly who managed only 11, were back in the pavilion, it was left to Sanjib Sanyal and Subhomoy Das to repair the damage. And they did remarkably well in keeping their heads down and batting judiciously.

At stumps, Sanyal, the more aggressive of the two, was unbeaten on 44 and Das on 13.

Harvinder claimed two wickets for 32 runs while Sanjay Bangar claimed two for 55. Murali Karthik claimed the wicket of Sourav Ganguly to finish the day with one for 45.

Earlier reports:
Tejinderpal hits 100 as Bengal toil
Pagnis, Bangar give Railways good start