Bangar, Tejinder Pal Singh prop up Railways

A 108-run second wicket stand between Sanjay Bangar and Tejinder Pal Singh made sure of a heady start for Railways on the opening day of their quarter-final match against last year's semifinalists Karnataka at the Karnail Singh stadium in Delhi on Thursday. Railways at stumps were 237 for 6 with SN Khanolkar (28) and S Sahu (12) at the crease.

Opting to bat, Railways openers Amit Pagnis and Sanjay Bangar managed to put up 27 runs in 13.1 overs. They looked in good nick especially Bangar but Karnataka's first change bowler in B Akhil had other plans. The medium pacer packed off Pagnis, caught by J Arun Kumar off the first ball of the 14th over. This brought Tejinder Pal Singh to the middle. The duo put their heads down and in a steady partnership brought up the 100 of the innings. Bangar was playing the grafter's role to perfection while Singh preferred to do the bulk of the scoring. Before long, Singh brought up his half-century, off just 55 balls.

The partnership was finally broken at 135 when Vadeyaraj trapped Singh leg before in the 50th over of the innings. Singh needed just 117 balls to score his 80 runs and the innings was studded with 14 hits to the fence. Four overs later, Bangar also departed unlucky to miss out on a half century. Bangar, who made 46, was caught by Anil Kumar off Yalvigi. He was at the centre for a good 233 minutes, faced 164 balls and hit five boundaries and one that sailed over the ropes.

The afternoon session saw the scoring rate drop drastically and a few wickets fell as well. Yere Goud (26) and his skipper Abhay Sharma (5) took the score to 186 in the 64th over. Then both Goud and Sharma fell in quick succession, the former Indian batsman Vijay Bharadwaj accounting for both. Khanolkar and Reza Ali (10) battled it out for ten overs to take the score along to 210. Vadeyaraj then sent back Reza Ali, caught off his own bowling. The last session of play saw Khanolkar and Sahe hold the fort for Railways as the hosts went to stumps with no further hiccups.