Railways takes first innings lead by nikhilndls on 24 December, 2012 - 08:00 AM | ||
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nikhilndls | Railways takes first innings lead on 24 December, 2012 - 08:00 AM | |
Railways stayed on course to achieve its first objective of taking the vital first innings lead scoring 145 for two in reply to Hyderabad’s first innings score of 337 at close of play on the second day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Group ‘A’ match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Sunday. Earlier, resuming at its overnight score of 247 for six, the home team added 90 runs, losing the last four wickets half-an-hour before lunch, thanks to the impressive Ashish Reddy (82, 119 balls, 8x4, 2x6) who continued to bat with great freedom.Railways got an early breakthrough when Anureet Singh trapped Amol Shinde lbw in the third over of the day. Then it ran into a gritty Ashish. However, just when he looked good for his maiden Ranji century, he got out going for a heave over square-leg off leg-spinner Karan Sharma without getting to the pitch of the ball. Akash Bhandari scored a breezy half-century (56 not out, 89 balls, 9x4) to see Hyderabad post a total which, at one stage, looked out of reach.In reply, Railways was off to a confident start with openers Shivakant Shukla and Amit Paunikar putting on 51 runs before India left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha got Shukla, who was on the back-foot to one which kept a trifle low.Ojha picked his second wicket to send back Paunikar, whose attempt to sweep ended in top-edging a simple catch to silly-point. But, the gritty Nitin Bhille (31) and his experienced captain Sanjay Bangar (43) put on an unbroken, 75- run stand for the third wicket. Hyderabad also had the misfortune of seeing its frontline spinner Ojha leave the field after bowling the first over after the tea break with discomfort in the right ankle. He came back briefly only to leave the field again with a slight limp but is expected to be fit tomorrow. |