Railways need quickfix solution

Squatting in the middle of the dry wicket with his hands clutching his bowed head after an appeal for caught behind was turned down Railways skipper Murali Kartiks posture reflected the sentiment of the team on Wednesday. The catches wouldnt latch,the umpires index finger wouldnt rise,the edges wouldnt find the fielders and the […]

Squatting in the middle of the dry wicket with his hands clutching his bowed head after an appeal for caught behind was turned down Railways skipper Murali Kartiks posture reflected the sentiment of the team on Wednesday. The catches wouldnt latch,the umpires index finger wouldnt rise,the edges wouldnt find the fielders and the opposition wouldnt score runs,even as Kartik and his spin strong attack bowled their hearts out in search of an outright victory.

Punjabs strategy on Day Two of their last round match was clear and simple: Defence is the best form of attack. Requiring only a draw to make it into the quarter-finals,the Punjab batsmen happily padded away to ensure they breeze into the last eight. At stumps,the visitors were 154/4 in 69 overs,122 runs behind Railways.

Resuming the day on 191for 6,Marripuri Suresh and Karan Sharma walked out to the middle with hope of resurrecting the teams position. Suresh didnt last very long though,dismissed after adding just seven runs to his overnight score of 31,by debutant left-arm spinner Rajwinder Singh for his first wicket in the Ranji Trophy. The other debutant of the match,Railways wicketkeeper Rahul Deb and Karan steadied the ship,rotating the strike and frustrating the visitors.

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Deb hit a six and a four in his brief innings of 13,before he gifted Rahul Sharma his sixth wicket of the match. Rahul continued to bowl his tight line and length,but Karan punished the others during his unbeaten half century. Karan and Kartik knitted up another decent partnerhip of 29 runs for the ninth wicket,in which the skipper contributed eight runs.

Kartik was out to Sarabjit Ladda,the latters second wicket of the match. Karan was left stranded on 59,when Krishnakant Upadhyay perished on nought,as the home sides first innings wrapped up on 276.

The scorers werent put to test when the Punjab batsmen were in the middle. They were happy to stretch their feet,and more often than not,they would change the overs rather than runs column on the manual scoreboard. Railways started on a high when left-handed opener Ravi Inder Singhs stumps were dismantled by Sanjay Bangar in the second over of the innings.

The other opener,Sunny Sohal played positive cricket,piercing the gaps for five boundaries during his 41-ball 30,but Kartik clattered the woodwork to make it 37/2 in the 15th over. From there on,it was defensiveness at its best.

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Uday Kaul joined Mayank Sidhana in the middle with the mindset of playing for the draw right from the second day. Punjab brought up their 50 in 22 overs and 100 in 44 overs under their watchful eyes. Kartik choked one end up,while leggie Karan and off-spinner Harshad Rawle made the pair play more. The ball found the edge many times,but fell safely into a vacant gap before keeper Deb finally caught Sidhana for 54 off Karan. Fielding at short leg,38-year-old Yere Goud felt the full brunt of leather on bone on several occasions,one of those producing skipper Pankaj Dharmanis wicket for nought.

The ball ricocheted off Gouds elbow,while Deb completed the sitter. Continuing with the arithmetic progression,Punjab brought up their 150 in 66 overs and shortly after,bad light called off play.

Brief scores: Railways 276 all out (Faiz Fazal 87,Karan Sharma 59 n.o.; Rahul Sharma 6/92); Punjab 154/4 in 69 overs (Mayank Sidhana 54; Karan Sharma 2/39)

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