Railways set themselves for batting practice on final day

Bowling Bengal out for 325 and having only one day left to play, Railways have booked their berth in the Ranji Trophy final against Baroda. The fourth day's play in their semi-final against Bengal only served to highlight their utter dominance in this contest.

Resuming on the morning of the fourth day, Subhomoy Das and Sanjib Sanyal batted well together, adding 44 more runs for the sixth wicket and taking their partnership to 105. But Sanyal fell in the 63rd over of the innings, caught by Sanjay Bangar off Murali Kartik.

Das added 62 runs with Utpal Chatterjee before the latter was dismissed, having made 30. Das himself was scalped by Kartik for a well-made 82 off 201 balls; after his wicket, Railways took 10 overs more to finish off the tail-end of the Bengal innings, bowling their rivals out for 325.

The first-innings lead gained, Railways could afford to relax to some extent. But the opening batsmen were in no mood to do so; having decided not to enforce the follow-on, the Railways bats looked to set themselves for some valuable batting practice ahead of the Ranji final.

Bangar and Amit Pagnis put together their second century partnership of the match. In fact, Bangar was again the first to fall, with the score again on 124, having made 62 off 144 balls. He hit six fours and two sixes in his knock.

At stumps, Railways were 135/1, with Pagnis unbeaten on 59 off 135 balls and Tejinder Pal Singh on 5 off 15 deliveries. Chatterjee took the lone wicket for Bengal, little consolation considering that his side have bid goodbye to a shot at the Ranji Trophy this year.