New Delhi: Tailenders once again came to the rescue of a stranded Railways helping them earn an invaluable 50-run first innings lead on the third day of its Irani Cup cricket match against Rest of India on Thursday.
Mired in deep trouble at 209 for eight in reply to Rest of India's first innings score of 266, Ranji Champion Railways was brought on the tracks by a cheeky 59 by Harvinder Singh and cameos by Shreyas Khanolkar (36) and Zakir Hussain (35 not out) which saw the team score 316 before being bowled out twenty minutes before tea. The other Railways batsman who showed grit was opener J P Yadav who completed a well- deserving century, scoring 104, but the rest of the top order including prolific scorers of last Ranji season Yere Goud and Amit Pagnis failed to click. Rest of India began its second innings positively reaching 84 without loss at stumps with openers Akash Chopra batting on 41 and Wasim Jaffer on 38. The start by the Rest side threw the match wide open and as Railways coach Vinod Sharma said, "It could be anyone's game." "We were in real deep trouble but as in the past couple of seasons, our tailenders proved equal to the task showing their skill with the bat in ample measure," he said. Rest, which has been winning the Cup for the last three editions, showed its intentions clearly that it would not let the hosts have a party at their home ground by playing the day out sensibly without any loss of wicket. Both Chopra and Jaffer faced exactly the same number of balls and punished the loose deliveries while wisely leaving out the balls that kept deceptively low. Jaffer, who started slowly, hit six fours in his 87-ball knock while Chopra, who missed a century by eight runs in the first innings, looked determined not to miss the bus this time cracking five sweetly timed fours. Together, the Rest openers knocked off the 50-run deficit and with skipper Yuvraj Singh, Abhijit Kale and Rohan Gavaskar yet to bat, the Rest side, which had won the toss and elected to bat, looked in a strong position. Another point in its favour was that the Railways would have to bat last on a pitch that is already showing signs of deteriorating. Earlier, Railways, which resumed at 135 for three, lost five wickets in the first two hours of the pre-lunch session and had it not been for Harvinder Singh, would have been sent packing quite early. Yadav, 71 overnight, duly completed his century with the help of 11 fours and two sixes but failed to get support from the other end. Rest speedster Tinu Yohannan grabbed two wickets off the first two balls of his first over of the day dismissing the other overnight batsman Jacob Martin, trapped leg before wicket for 26, and Raja Ali, caught by wicket-keeper Vijay Dahiya, for a duck. But Harvinder Singh brought back the cheers by some audacious over-the-ropes shots. He hit one four and five sixes, with three of them coming off spinner Sourashish Lahiri and one each off Yuvraj Singh and Sharandeep Singh who finally clean bowled him.
Tags: cricket, new delhi, railways, irani cup, rest of india, ranji champion railways, harvinder singh, shreyas khanolkar, zakir hussain, yere goud, amit pagnis, wasim jaffer, railways coach vinod sharma, yuvraj singh, abhijit kale, rohan gavaskar, tinu yohannan, jacob martin, raja ali, vijay dahiya, sourashish lahiri, sharandeep singh.
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