Railways set the platform

It seems Railways are hell bent on spoiling Indian domestic circuit8217;s first foreign coach Intikhab Alam8217;s dream run. After defeati...

It seems Railways are hell bent on spoiling Indian domestic circuit8217;s first foreign coach Intikhab Alam8217;s dream run. After defeating defending champions Mumbai away from home in the semis, the Punjab coach would have expected his team to dominate the Ranji Trophy finals. But on Day One the 8216;underdogs8217; stood defiant.

Railways garnered a comfortable 287/5, riding on India discards Sanjay Bangar 79 and Jai Prakash Yadav 63.

Other than an excellent catch by Sandeep Sanwal, in the second slip, to get rid of Bangar and Vineet Sharma completing his hundred first-class wickets after bowling out Yadav, the rest of the day left Punjab disappointed.

On a track where Kamran Akmal and Abdul Razzaq defied the Indian bowlers and forced a draw in the first Test earlier this month, the Bangar-led side followed the Pakistan plan. It was a simple ploy: treating every ball on merit and scoreboard ticking.

Only when Punjab thought that they were beginning to eat into the Railways line-up, the 8216;old-hand8217; in Raja Ali further complicated the proceedings. He remained unbeaten with Shreyas Khanolkar at the other end before the bails were taken off.

Punjab appeared to be sorely missing the services of skipper Dinesh Mongia and Harbhajan Singh, whose bowling would have been very useful on the Mohali track. The speedsters tried as much as they could but their efforts were futile on the dead pitch.

Alam still feels that Punjab have the edge. He is banking on a new beginning as he expects his bowlers to strike early tomorrow.

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The day could be explained with a single difference between the two teams that was seen on Wednesday. After the match, Punjab first decided to have a team meeting and then a light work-out.

Railways, on the other hand, enjoyed a game of football and then walked in to cheerfully discuss the next day8217;s play.

SCOREBOARD

	nbsp;	Railways 1st Innings: Sanjay Bangar c Sanwal b Vineet Sharma 79; Amit Pagnis lbw Vineet Sharma 40; Tejinder Pal Singh c Dharmani b Sodhi 11; Jai P Yadav b Vineet Sharma 63; Raja Ali batting 50; Yere Youd lbw Gagandeep Singh 15; Shreyas Khanolkar batting 9. Extras b 2, nb 18: 20 Total for 5 wkts, 90 overs: 287 Fall of wickets: 1-60, 2-77, 3-200, 4-213, 5-269. Bowling: Gagandeep Singh 22-7-37-0, Vineet Sharma 20-3-75-3, Navdeep Singh 18-0-58-1, Reetinder Sodhi 7-0-53-1, Sandeep Sanwal 10-1-31-0, Rajesh Sharma 11-1-28-0, Ankur Kakkar 2-1-3-0.	nbsp;