Pistons make heavy weather of Railways challenge

India Pistons had to struggle before dispelling the challenge of Indian Railway by seven wickets at the AOC ground in the Moin-ud-Dowla Cup at Hyderabad today. R Satish was Pistons' troubleshooter with a fine allround performance that netted three wickets and 46 runs. It was the second successive victory for Pistons who had trounced Andhra in their lung opener yesterday.

Indian Railways won the toss and elected to bat but some incisive bowling by R Satish and Satyajit Medappa cleaved through their batting lineup as they succumbed for 152 in 42 overs. Four batsmen entered the 20's and 30's but proved incapable of building upon that start, Sudhir Wankhede topscoring with 31 (50 balls, 2 fours). Opening bowler Satish snapped up 3/45 but off spinner Satyajit Medappa outdid him with the nifty analysis of 3/14.

Medappa however was not so successful with the bat, falling in the third over to seam bowler Harvinder Singh for 4. Harvinder also removed Medappa's opening partner Vikram Rathour for 9. The Punjab skipper scratched around for 44 balls before having his stumps castled. One drop Hemanth Kumar had already preceded Rathour to the pavilion to leave Pistons in an uncomfortable position of 32/3.

It was left to JR Madanagopal and R Satish to pull Pistons out of trouble with a 41 run fifth wicket stand. While Madanagopal fell by the wayside for 37 (71 balls, 3 fours), Satish remained unconquered on 46 (68 balls, 7 fours) to steer Pistons home This was not before they had undergone some more nervous tension with Satish losing two more partners. But they recovered from 134/7 in the 45th over to triumph with just ten balls to spare.