When the likes of JP Yadav, Murali Karthik, Sanjay Bangar and Yere Goud were at their peak, Railways were a domestic superpower with a brace of Ranji and Irani Trophy titles each in their cabinet. The retirement of these stalwarts brought about a period of lull, and the team assembled in subsequent seasons couldn’t replicate their predecessors’ heady successes. ‘Team in transition’ was a term that would forever be attached to them. But more than transition, Railways appeared to be in a state of perpetual flux. Sometime back, the selection panel decided to go in for a major overhaul - slacking seniors were shown the door making way for a bevy of fresh faces from the U-23 squad. For their season-opener against Uttar Pradesh, a new-look Railways team was announced featuring three debutants. At the outset, it seemed a plan fraught with danger. But after three days of play, the selectors stand vindicated with each of them playing stellar roles in the team gaining the upper hand when stumps were drawn on Wednesday evening. Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Mor, who hit an impressive unbeaten 91, compiled his maiden first-class ton in the second essay, as Railways compiled 270 to set Uttar Pradesh a victory target of 349. Earlier, Mor’s friend Himanshu Sangwan had prised out four crucial scalps to restrict Uttar Pradesh to a paltry 175 in the first innings, after Navneet Virk had made a courageous half-century on Day 1, and his partnership with Mor proved to be the cornerstone of the team’s revival. READ | Prithvi Shaw’s 202: Five-course meal before lunch Selector Kulamani Parida earmarked Mor as a player for the future and explained that it’s his hunger to play first-class cricket that brought out such mature performances. “He was not getting an opportunity to showcase his skills. He had been playing at the U-19 and U-23 levels for far too long. When he got an opportunity, he didn’t let it go. He got hit on the stomach, on his right eyebrow, but never backed away. He has been the standout performer for us in this match,” he explained. A lot was riding on Mor when he walked out to bat with captain Karn Sharma on Wednesday. The Railways were in strife at 58/5 with a lead of just 136. Early wickets would have put the cat among the pigeons. But two factors worked in their favour. Firstly, the Victoria Park pitch, which had hitherto been a seamer’s paradise, had flattened out. And Shivam Mavi, Uttar Pradesh’s most potent pacer on view, was out with a stiff back. To compound matters for the hosts, both Mor and Sharma survived a dropped chance each. Their 68-run sixth-wicket alliance helped Railways gain the upper hand. Even after Sharma’s dismissal, Railways did not fold up. The lower order chipped in with vital contributions as Sangwan and Sangwan and Amit Mishra added 58 runs for the final wicket. Brief Scores: Railways 253 (Dinesh Mor 91 not out, Navneet Virk 58; Yash Dayal 5/47) & 273 (Mor 102; Shivam Mavi 4/19) vs U P 175 (Almas Shaukat 92 not out; Himanshu Sangwan 4/71) & 23 Ranji Round-up Jalaj marches on Jalaj Saxena finished the last season with 551 runs and 28 wickets. The season before that, he had 522 runs and 44 scalps. But somehow, the MSK Prasad-led selection committee didn’t consider him good enough for an India berth, even during their experiment overdrive in white-ball cricket. At 33 years of age, the spin-bowling allrounder probably has missed the bus, but that hasn’t lowered his motivation. On Wednesday, he almost single-handedly rolled over Delhi’s batting with a six-wicket haul during their first innings. Delhi slumped to 142 all out and followed on. In the second innings, however, they made a strong start, finishing the day on 142 Then again, Delhi still need to score 241 runs to save the innings defeat. Saxena will surely fancy his chances on a fourth day pitch. Brief scores (at Thumba): Kerala 525/9 decl. vs Delhi 142 (Jalaj Saxena 6/63) and 142/1 (Anuj Rawat 87) Skillful Unadkat Jaydev Unadkat is a different bowler in the winter, when there’s moisture on the surface and nip in the air. As summer approaches, the left-arm seamer loses his sting and at times becomes pedestrian. But when conditions are favourable, Unadkat can be a match-winner. The game against Himachal Pradesh that Saurashtra won by five wickets on Wednesday, was a case in point. His nine-wicket match haul set up the win for his team. Saurashtra had a tricky chase in their second innings and although Cheteshwar Pujara, batting at No. 6, fell for 14, Prerak Mankad’s 47 not out helped them get over the line. Brief scores (at Dharamsala): Himachal Pradesh 120 and 182 lost to Saurashtra 141 and 165/5 (Prerak Mankad 47 not out; Vaibhav Arora 3/57) by 5 wickets Points: Saurashtra 6, Himachal Pradesh 0 j&k to the fore They had a troubled build-up to their Ranji Trophy campaign. But Jammu and Kashmir showed they have enough talent to overcome the odds, in an away fixture. Their 253-run victory against Uttarakhand came inside three days. Ram Dayal took a five-for in the second innings and took his match tally to nine wickets. Apart from Dikshanshu Negi, who made an unbeaten half-century, Uttarakhand batsmen surrendered to Jammu and Kashmir’s relentless seam attack. Brief scores (at Dehradun): Jammu and Kashmir 182 & 304 beat Uttarakhand 84 and 149 (Dikshanshu Negi 55 not out; Ram Dayal 5/58) by 253 runs Points: Jammu and Kashmir 6, Uttarakhand 0 Vinay rolls back the years Pondicherry have brought in Vinay Kumar as an outstation professional and appointed J Arun Kumar as their coach because both have title-winning experience, as the former captain and coach of the Karnataka Ranji team respectively. Pondicherry made a roaring start to their campaign, securing a bonus point win. Vinay played a key part in the success with four wickets in the second innings. Given a victory target of 70, Pondicherry got there without losing a wicket. Brief scores (at Patna): Bihar 173 and 196 (Vikash Ranjan 85 not out; Vinay Kumar 4/57) lost to Pondicherry 300 and 70/0 (Paras Dogra 42 not out) by 10 wickets Points: Pondicherry 7, Bihar 0 Satish’s career-best Ganesh Satish’s career-best first-class score put Vidarbha in the driver’s seat against Andhra. Resuming on overnight 113, Satish scored 237 off 397 balls, hitting 25 fours and five sixes. Although CV Stephen took a five-for for Andhra, the hosts are now chasing the game. Their captain Hanuma Vihari was dismissed for 27 in the second innings. Brief scores (at Vijayawada): Andhra 211 and 100/2 vs Vidarbha 441 (Ganesh Satish 237; CV Stephen 5/110) Rex stars in Manipur win Medium pacer Rex Singh’s 10-wicket match haul helped Manipur secure a six-wicket win over Mizoram. Singh took two wickets in the second innings on the heels of his eight-for in the first. Brief scores (at Kolkata): Mizoram 65 and 290 (KB Pawan 124; Rex Singh 2/49) lost to Manipur 289 and 69/4 by 6 wickets Points: Manipur 6, Mizoram 0 Yadav’s spin punch Left-arm spinner Sanjay Yadav’s 13-wicket match haul – nine scalps in the first innings – helped Meghalaya beat Nagaland by 110 runs. Brief scores (at Sovima): Meghalaya 285 and 142 (I Lemtur 6/54) beat Nagaland 136 and 181 (Sanjay Yadav 4/60) by 110 runs Points: Meghalaya 6, Nagaland 0 Karthik keeps TN alive A century from Dinesh Karthik and two wickets in quick succession by Ravi Ashwin brought Tamil Nadu back into the game against Karnataka. Ashwin dismissed Pavan Deshpande and Shreyas Gopal in successive overs to reduce Karnataka to 59/5 in their second innings. Karnataka earlier had secured a 29-run first innings lead – K Gowtham bagging a six-for – and they finished Day Three on 89 Going into the final day, all three results are possible. Brief scores (at Dindigul): Karnataka 336 and 89/5 (R Ashwin 2/30) vs Tamil Nadu 307 (Dinesh Karthik 113; K Gowtham 6/110) Gurinder spins a web Left-arm spinner Gurinder Singh claimed six wickets for 50 runs as Chandigarh bowled out Arunachal Pradesh for 183 in 54.3 overs to win by an innings and 173 runs. It took Chandigarh only 9.3 overs on Wednesday to complete the win in their maiden Ranji Trophy game with Gurinder taking three wickets on the day and Shreshth Nirmohi scalping one. Rahul Dalal was the highest scorer for Arunachal with 81. Brief scores (at CHANDIGARH): Arunachal Pradesh : 147 & 183 all out in 54.3 overs (Rahul Dalal 81, Kamsha Yangfo 27, Doria 21, Gurinder Singh 6 for 50, Shreshth Nirmohi 3 for 38) lost to Chandigarh : 503 for 2 Decl) by an innings and 173 runs. Points: Chandigarh 6, Arunachal 0
