Railways quickly in commanding position

Railways were quickly in command in their Central Zone Ranji Trophy league match against Vidarbha at the Karnail Singh stadium in New Delhi on Monday. At stumps on the first day, Railways after dismissing Vidarbha for 89 runs, replied with 153 for two off 43 overs.

Opting to bat on winning the toss, Vidarbha soon ran into trouble and were shot out inside three hours off 44.4 overs. At one stage they were 73 for three but then Tejinder Pal Singh brought about a sharp collapse and they lost seven wickets for 16 runs off 16.2 overs. Tejinder finished with five for 37 off 18.4 overs while Khumani Parida who gave a helping hand, returned the excellent figures of 10-7-7-2.

Railways were given a bright start with openers Amit Pagnis (53) and Sanjay Bangar (46) putting on 102 runs off 24 overs. While Pagnis faced 108 balls and hit seven fours, Bangar faced 78 balls and hit nine of them to the ropes. Skipper Abhay Sharma carried on the good work by scoring an unbeaten 42 off 67 balls with six hits to the fence.

By close, Railways with a lead of 64 runs with eight wickets in hand were in a position to call the shots.