Trivedi pegs back Railways

Trivedi’s partner Salil Yadav opted to duck or swaying away from the short balls. Old hand Sanjay Bangar tried his hand at the short stuff but to no avail.

“All fast bowlers bowl short to tailenders. So I kind of expected it,” Trivedi said after the end of days play. Trivedi was equally effective when the ball was pitched up to him. He played a few fine cover drives to shatter Railways hopes. With wickets falling from the other end,Trivedi made up his mind to up the scoring rate.

“Bhavik and Prathmesh partnership got us a very good platform after that we needed quick runs so I had made up my mind to go for runs. I would have got out cheaply had I tried my hand at blocking. Thankfully it paid off today,” the 28-year-old added.

Trivedi was happy for setting up the match for his team after his two-wickets in the last session had pegged the Railways team even further.

“It was very important for us to use the new ball well. Because once it gets old batsmen get comfortable,like the way TP (Singh) was playing after the wickets fell. I dismissed two of their top order batsmen and we have the advantage is with us.”

Railways were 20/2 as Trivedi returned to peg them back. Opener Faiz Fazal walked back to the pavilion in the first over and Bangar followed soon. V Cheluvuraj held forte for 66 balls for his 13,was the last wicket to fall on the day.

Earlier,Railways got through the defences of specialist batsmen,including that of Thaker and Parmar,late in the first session,to break the momentum. Upadhyay,meanwhile struck twice in two balls to remove Thaker and Ashraf Makda to set the game.

Brief scores:

Gujarat 1st innings 379 all out in 150.2 overs (Bhavik Thaker 67,Siddharth Trivedi 65,Niraj Patel 46,Prathmesh Parmar 42; Krishnakant Upadhyay 3/98,JP Yadav 2/102,Shailender Gehlot 2/68) vs Railways 64/3 in 29 overs (TP Singh batting 26,Yere Goud batting 9)