From the fringes,Yere Goud was shouting instructions at M Suresh in Telugu as Railways closed in on Rajasthans first innings total of 521 on the final day of the Ranji Trophy match at the Karnail Singh Stadium on Sunday. Goud nearly asked Suresh to go for a big shot,but the Railways skipper,Sanjay Bangar,shot down the idea. In the end,the message that was delivered to the batsman was to take it easy,and complete the last stretch in singles. When the moment arrived,there was collective relief in the camp. This was a crucial time from 5/488,the hosts had lost three quick wickets,including that of centurion Mahesh Rawat and needed another 8 runs to secure three points. Once the needful was done,Railways were a changed side. Having got off the mark,now they went about improving their run quotient. After putting on 525 on board,they reduced Rajasthan to 20 for 4,before settling for a draw in fading light. Arlen Konwar struck with the second ball,dismissing Rajasthans Vaibhav Deshpande as the defending champions makeshift batting order was made to work hard. Anureet Singh then sent back Gajendra Singh and Vivek Yadav in quick time,both edging to Rawat behind the stumps. Vineet Saxena was the last man to be dismissed. Earlier,Rawat compiled his first ton in the Railways jersey and fourth overall and in tandem with Goud,set the tone of this mammoth chase. The duo put on 153 for the fifth wicket before Goud edged one to wicketkeeper Rohit Jhalani off Sumit Mathur. He made 70. Rawat then stitched together another handy stand with Suresh,who remained unbeaten on 61,to bring the side closer to the target. But the drama unfolded in the third session when Railways lost quick wickets. Rawat was caught at mid-off,trying to hit over the cover and JP Yadav fell to a smart catch by Rashmi Ranjan Parida in the covers. And when Karn Sharma pulled straight to mid-wicket,another dramatic collapse loomed,but Suresh steered them to safety. I was hitting well,but wasnt going further than the 20s,this time I needed a big score. I was supported well by Yere bhai who stayed there with me. Yes there were nervous moments when we lost wickets,but three points is a massive step for us, Rawat said. Spare a thought for Rajasthan,who had conceded the first-innings lead for the second time in succession after posting over 520. Its a concern, stand-in skipper Aakash Chopra said. We need to address it as soon as possible,may be rethink on where we are going wrong. After making over 500 runs in two innings,one would expect to get three points nine out of ten times. Brief scores: Rajasthan 521/8 decl & 21/4 in 14 overs (A Konwar 2/5,A Singh 2/10); Railways 525/8 decl in 161 overs (M Rawat 145,Y Goud 70,M Suresh 61 not out; V Yadav 6/134)
