Ranji Trophy: Railways score 242/4 on Day 1

New Delhi: Sanjay Bangar struck an unbeaten 111 to take Railways to a strong position at 242 for four on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match against Tamil Nadu here on Tuesday.

Coming at number three, Bangar proved his captain Murali Kartik’s decision to bat first at the Karnail Singh Stadium right as he stitched two important partnerships – 80 with opener Faiz Fazal and 76 with Yere Goud – to give Railways the advantage.

Fazal was the other main contributor with 70, which he made from 164 balls with the help of 11 fours before he fell to Ravichandran Ashwin at the post-lunch session.

When stumps were drawn, Sanjib Sanyal, on six, was giving company to Bangar, who struck 14 fours and two sixes from the 217 balls he faced on Tuesday.

The Railways run-rate though was a tad low as they could get only 242 from the 94 overs they faced today at 2.57 runs an over. Opener V Cheluvaraj consumed as many as 58 balls for his 13.

Tamil Nadu used as many as seven bowlers but it was hard toil for all of them throughout the day.

Ashwin was the most successful Railway bowler with two wickets from his 33 overs. Abhinav Mukund and Suresh Kumar took a wicket apiece. India discard Lakshmipathy Balaji was wicketless from his 16 overs.

Bureau Report