Sanjay Bangar scored an unbeaten 111 to put Railways in a strong position at 242 for four on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match against Tamil Nadu in Delhi [ Images ] on Tuesday.

Coming in at No 3, Bangar vindicated captain Murali Kartik's [ Images ] decision to bat first at the Karnail Singh stadium as he stitched together two important partnerships -- 80 with opener Faiz Fazal and 76 with Yere Goud -- to give Railways the advantage.

Fazal was the other main contributor with 70 off 164 balls, including 11 fours, before he fell to Ravichandran Ashwin in the post-lunch session.

When stumps were drawn, Sanjib Sanyal was unbeaten on six with Bangar, who struck 14 fours and two sixes off the 217 balls he faced.

Railways' run-rate though was a tad low as they could score only 242 from the 94 overs they faced -- at 2.57 runs an over. Opener V Cheluvaraj consumed as many as 58 balls for his 13.

Tamil Nadu used as many as seven bowlers but it was a toil for all of them throughout the day.

Ashwin was the most successful Railways bowler with two wickets from his 33 overs. Abhinav Mukund and Suresh Kumar took a wicket apiece. India [ Images ] discard Lakshmipathy Balaji went wicketless from his 16 overs.

Scorecard

Railways (1st innings):
Faiz Fazal st Karthik b Ashwin 70
V Cheluvaraj c Srinivas b Mukund 13
Sanjay Bangar not out 111
TP Singh c Vijay b Ashwin 4
Yere Goud c Mukund b Kumar 14
Sanjib Sanyal not out 6
Extras: (b-6, lb-10, w-5, nb-3) 24
Total: (For 4 wkts in 94 overs) 242

Fall of wickets: 1-55, 2-135, 3-139, 4-215

Bowling: L Balaji [ Images ] 16-5-37-0; R Jesuraj 18-3-48-0; C Ganapathy 8-3-18-0; A Mukund 2-0-4-1; R Ashwin 33-8-84-2; Aushik Srinivas 15-5-29-0; SS Kumar 2-0-6-1.