Railways in command against Karnataka

Off spinner Kulamani Parida and left arm spinner Tejinder Pal Singh bowled out Karnataka for 237 to place Railways in a commanding position at stumps on the third day of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal at the Karnail Singh stadium in New Delhi on Saturday. After gaining a first innings lead of 214, Railways opting to bat again were 106 for no loss at stumps.

Resuming at 36 without loss, Karnataka lost Mithun Beerala (18) at 51 when he was leg before to Sanjay Bangar. However, the other Arun Kumar and Barrington Rowland added 74 runs for the second wicket and Karnataka were sailing along smoothly at 125 for one. However then ensued an astonishing collapse which saw them lose four wickets for five runs. First, Arun Kumar was caught by Zakir Hussain off Parida for 55. In batting a shade over three hours, Arun Kumar faced 130 balls and hit eight fours. Then at 130, Karnataka lost three wickets in the space of six deliveries and the back of the innings was well and truly broken. First, Rowland (35) was leg before to Parida. He faced 77 balls and hit four of them to the ropes. With the first ball of the following over, TP Singh had former Indian player Vijay Bhardwaj caught by Yere Goud for one. Off the next ball, Anil Kumar gave him a return catch and Karnataka, at 130 for five, were gasping for breath.

B Akhil averted the hat-trick and he and wicketkeeper VST Naidu proceeded to add 42 runs for the sixth wicket off 11 overs before Akhil was stumped by Abhay Sharma off Parida for 18. Former Test medium pacer Dodda Ganesh (9) did not last long but Yalvigi (18) helped Naidu in adding 34 runs for the eighth wicket. Naidu was ninth out for 46. He faced 97 balls and had six boundary hits. The innings came to an end soon afterwards. Singh (4 for 64 off 26 overs) and Parida (4 for 62 off 26.5 overs) emerged the bowling heroes.

Railways skipper Abhay Sharma decided to bat again and openers Amit Pagnis and Sanjay Bangar helped their team to consolidate by hitting 106 runs off 27 overs. By close, Pagnis had faced 67 balls for his 47 while Bangar had faced 95 balls for his 53. While Pagnis hit five fours, Bangar hit eight fours and a six. With an overall lead of 320, Railways hold all the aces with two days left.