Tons by Khurasiya, Abbas Ali bring little relief for MP

Centuries by Amay Khurasia and Abbas Ali could not prevent Madhya Pradesh from conceding a massive 242 run first innings lead to Railways on the third day of their Central Zone Ranji Trophy league tie at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi today. MP which were bowled out for 283 at stumps in response to Railways' 525 face the prospect of a follow-on tomorrow.

Resuming at 10/2, the visitors lost the wickets of Harvinder Sodhi and Devender Bundela cheaply in the morning, at which point the two centurions joined hands with the total a dismal 48/4. Khurasiya and Abbas added 114 for the fifth wicket before the former was castled by Murali Kartik for an aggressive 105 (143 balls, 12 fours, 3 sixes).

Abbas soldiered on, compiling 54 for the sixth and 63 for the seventh wickets with skipper Chandrakant Pandit and Nikhil Patwardhan respectively. Grandson of the legendary Mushtaq Ali, Abbas was finally dislodged by off spinner Kulamani Parida for 105 (186 balls, 16 fours, 2 sixes). That left MP at 279/7. Two overs and four runs later it was all over as Parida polished off the rabbits to finish with 3/39. His fellow tweaker Kartik had been a shade more expensive in collecting returns of 3/82.