Tejinder Pal Singh hit a classy 86 on a damp Karnail Singh pitch as Railways cantered to 305 for nine on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A cricket match against Bengal in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The first over dismissal of skipper Sanjay Bangar notwithstanding, Railways, put into bat by Bengal skipper Rohan Gavaskar, benefited from some lacklustre bowling by the visitors who failed to exploit the conditions stacked heavily in favour of the seamers.
But for fast bowler Ranadev Bose's four-wicket haul, which came after lunch, the visitors would have been in dire straits. Sabir Ali supported Bose well with three scalps while left-arm spinner Murtaza Lodhgar, hero in Bengal's win over Karnataka last week, chipped in with two.
Railways suffered an early blow when Bangar departed in the first over by Ali after making just four. But that was all Bengal managed in the opening session as Amit Pagnis (57) and Tejinder played carefully to take the score to 110 for one at lunch.
"We did not play good cricket at that time, the first session did not go our way. The pitch was alright and was helping the bowlers," Gavaskar said after the day's play.
"Ranadeb bowled a superb third spell after lunch that brought us back into the game."
Ranadeb, the 25-year-old right-arm pacer, produced a brilliant spell, capturing four wickets in 12 overs giving away 20 runs, as Railways slumped from 129 for one to 187 for five.
J P Yadav (69 not out) then steadied the ship with the tailenders.
The 26-year-old Tejinder, whose faced 172 balls and hit 14 boundaries, added 123 runs for the second wicket with
Pagnis and a valuable 56 with Raja Ali (15) who was promoted up the order ahead of Siddharth Verma (1).
Yere Goud (15) and Sudhir Wankhede (0) were dismissed cheaply before Yadav and Harvinder Singh (22) added 61 for the eighth wicket much to the frustration of the Bengal bowlers.
Surprisingly, Gavaskar did not take the new ball after 80 overs even though Harvinder and Yadav were making merry on the grassy track.
"Our bowlers were getting a bit of reverse swing with the old ball. So we decided to continue with that and not go for the new ball," Gavaskar said.
Railways must be happy with their efforts on the opening day, but coach Vino Sharma said his side should have lost a couple of wickets less.
"It would have been fine had it been 305 for seven. Harvinder and Kulamani [Parida] got out at the fag end of the day. Anyway they are tail-enders and that's the way they play," Sharma said.
Harvinder, who batted well for his 22, saw his off-stump flying when he missed the line of a Sabir Ali delivery.
Parida (0) fell just two overs before stumps when his mistimed pull was caught easily by Lodhgar.
At close, last man Santosh Saxena (0) was giving company to Yadav.
Railways (1st innings):
S Bangar c Haldipur b Ali 4
A Pagnis lbw b Lodhgar 57
T P Singh c Arindam Das b Lodhgar 86
Raja Ali c Haldipur b Bose 15
S Verma lbw b Bose 1
J P Yadav not out 69
Y Goud lbw b Bose 15
S Wankhede lbw b Bose 0
Harvinder c Singh b Ali 22
K Parida c Lodhgar b Ali 0
S Saxena not out 0
Extras: (b 8, lb 6, w 1, nb 21) 36
Total: (9 wickets, 90 overs) 305
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-129, 3-184, 4-186, 5-187, 6-233, 7-239, 8-301, 9-305.
Bowling: Ali 15-3-53-3, Bose 20-3-51-4, Sanyal 16-2-47-0, Lahiri 5-1-35-0, Shukla 5-1-14-0, Gavaskar 5-2-15-0, Lodhgar 24-5-76-2.
