da wazamba： Riding on a five wicket haul by Harvinder Singh, Railways took ahealthy 123-run first innings lead over hosts Maharashtra on the thirdday of the Ranji Trophy pre-quarter-final match at the Pune Clubground on Monday
Staff Reporter12-Mar-2001Riding on a five wicket haul by Harvinder Singh, Railways took ahealthy 123-run first innings lead over hosts Maharashtra on the thirdday of the Ranji Trophy pre-quarter-final match at the Pune Clubground on Monday.Replying to the visitors’ total of 431, Maharashtra were bowled outfor 308 in 109.4 overs. Skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar top scored with124. At stumps Railways in their second innings were 99/2 with SanjayBangar (42) and KS Parida (0) at the crease.The hosts resumed at 101/3. The overnight batsmen Kanitkar (43) andKaushik Aphale (3) added 72 runs for the fourth wicket off 37 overs.With both batsmen making merry, skipper Abhay Sharma turned toallrounder Sanjay Bangar who turned the tide in favour of Railwayswith a spectacular show of outswing bowling in the 71st over. First,he trapped Kaushik Aphale (37) leg before with the first ball and thencastled Mandar Sane (0) and wicketkeeper Sanjay Kondalkar (0) with thefifth and sixth balls. All three wickets fell with the score on 161.The sudden triple setback pushed Kanitkar into the defence mode as hedropped anchor at one end. The lower order played well around thesouthpaw helping in valuable partnerships. Satyen Lande (7) aided theskipper in adding 42 runs for the seventh wicket. All rounder IqbalSiddiqui (38) also gave good support in putting on 38 runs for theninth wicket. Kanitkar (124) battled hard before he was ninth out. Hefaced 240 deliveries with a dozen boundaries in his face savingcentury.Harvinder Singh cleaned out the Maharshtra top order bagging 5/95. Hewas well supported by Sanjay Bangar (3/58).In the second essay, Railways began with openers Sanjay Bangar(43 not out) and Amit Pagnis (13) playing with a mixture of balancedattack and defence. The openers raced away to 34 runs off six overs.Kanitkar then handed the ball to the experienced Mandar Sane and theleggie obliged picking up the prolific Pagnis in his second over.Siddiqui picked up the explosive T Singh (42) in the last ten minutesof play. Singh played 23 deliveries smashing six of them to the fenceand two over the top.