Parmar sends Railways packing

Mukund Parmar, the captain of the Gujarat Ranji team, is a good right-hand batsman as his first-class average (50.72) suggests; his bowling ...

Mukund Parmar, the captain of the Gujarat Ranji team, is a good right-hand batsman as his first-class average (50.72) suggests; his bowling is nothing to write home about. But on Friday, he helped spin out defending champions Railways for a paltry 188 after he brought himself on in the 47th over.

Going into lunch, the home team were sitting pretty with just one wicket down. But post-lunch the scenerio changed dramatically. Parmar took four of the five wickets that fell in the session. In the space of 26 balls, he took his four wickets, conceding just seven runs for a final analysis of 18-3-41-4. The figures would have done a regular bowler proud.

In fact, Parmar has not bowled such a long spell in the last four years. “The last time I had a long bowl was in the 2001 Ranji one-day tournament but due to knee injury I was advised not to bowl. With the main bowlers not making any impact I decided to bowl myself and the trick worked,” he said.

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Parmar was supported well by Ashraf Makda (3-24) and the fact that the hosts played few rash strokes also helped Gujarat.

“I think we conceded around 20-25 runs more. After reducing them for 147-7, we should have got them for around 160,” Gujarat coach Vijay Patel said.

For the home team, G Shankar Rao, replacing TP Singh and opening the batting, top scored with 44.

“It was once again a poor batting display. Since the pitch is turning and we have couple of good spinners in the team it can still be anybody’s game,” Railways coach Vinod Sharma said.

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Patel said his batsmen would have to play few aggressive shots. “Some risks have to be taken as a negative approach could spell doom . The fact that we bat up to number eight is an advantage for us,” the visiting coach said.

Brief scores

Railways

188 (G Shankar Rao 44, Sunjoy Bangar 39, Sudhir Wankhede 29, Mukund Parmar 4-41, Ashraf Makda 3-24) vs Gujarat.

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