Railways push Maharashtra on the back foot

Railways took control of the proceedings as the restricted Maharashtra to 101 for three at stumps on the second day's play in the Ranji Trophy pre-quarterfinal match at the Poona Club ground in Pune on Sunday. Earlier, Railways, who resumed at 342 for five were all out for 431.

The final session of play saw Railways get the upper hand. Maharashtra openers Surinder Bhave (6) and JS Narse (40) batted cautiously to put on 23 runs off 11.4 overs. Bhave was the first to be sent back, bowled by seamer Harvinder Singh. This brought the Maharashtra skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar to the crease and he and Narse took the score to 79. But in the 31st over of the innings, Harvinder Singh returned to dismiss Narse, caught behind by Abhay Sharma. New batsman Abhijit Kale (4) did not last long. Harvinder sent him packing with the second ball of his next over, caught by Sanjay Bangar.

KD Aphale (3) joined his skipper and the two safely negotiated the rest of the overs till stumps. Kanitkar at close was batting with 43 (100 balls, three fours). But in the face of the mammoth Railways' total, Maharashtra still have a lot of work ahead of them. Harvinder Singh took all the three wickets for 45 runs off 16 overs.

Earlier, Railways' overnight batsman Abhay Sharma (59) and SN Kanolkar (76) could not extend their partnership for very long as Abhay Sharma departed caught by SS Bhave off MS Kulkarni with the score line reading 355. The sixth wicket partnership was worth 63 runs. PS Rawat who replaced Sharma did not last long and in the 97th over he fell leg before to Kulkarni. Then Kanolkar was helped by KS Parida (32) who shared 62 runs for the eighth wicket to help the total swell to 421. The last two wickets fell for the addition of only 10 runs.