Ramesh Powar power to the fore for Mumbai

The much-criticised Bandra-Kurla Complex pitch is finally going to produce a result. The Mumbai-Railways Ranji Trophy tie could produce an exciting finish.

On Day Two of the Elite league match, the pendulum swung both ways with Railways getting the edge initially. By the end of the day, the defending champions fought back, courtesy Ramesh Powar’s heroics.

First, the stocky all-rounder scored a crucial 36 and added 63 runs for the seventh wicket with Prashant Naik (30) to help his side gain a slender 18-run lead after Railways pacer  Anureet Singh dismissed the Mumbai top order cheaply. Then, he accounted for two batsmen in the Railways’ second innings, leaving them struggling at 64 for three. At stumps, Sanjay Bangar (19) and Yere Goud (5) were at the crease.

Powar extracted turn and bounce and claimed the wickets of M Suresh (28) and TP Singh (28) after pacer Dhaval Kulkarni had dismissed opener V Cheluvaraj for a duck.

Earlier, the Mumbai top order, barring Sahil Kukreja (50) and Ajinkya Rahane (43), came a cropper. Anureet bowled well, claiming the wickets of Kukreja, Rahane and Rohit Sharma (1). Jaffer (1), who has been in roaring form this season, was sent home cheaply by Bangar.
Iqbal Abdulla (29) showed his usefulness with the bat by playing some fine strokes before being trapped plumb in front of the wickets. He smashed six boundaries. With 45 short of Railways’ total of 201, Powar and Prashant Naik put up a brave show and fought the odds to take Mumbai past Railways’ first innings total. Powar’s innings of 36 was studded with two huge sixes and three hits to the fence.

With two days left, Mumbai have a good chance to score their first outright win of the season but they should be wary of bowlers like Murali Kartik and, of course, the first innings hero Anureet.

Scorecard
Railways 1st inns 201
Mumbai 1st inns (O/N 42/1)
S Kukreja c Tokas b Anureet 50, O Gurav lbw b Kartik 18, A Rahane b Anureet 43, W Jaffer c Rawat b Bangar 1, R Sharma c Rawat b Anureet 1, P Naik c Bangar b Kartik 30, I Abdulla lbw b Tokas 29, R Powar c Rawat b Anureet 36, D Kulkarni b Anureet 0, R Raje c Cheluvaraj b Kartik 0, V Yeligati n.o. 0
Extras: (B4, NB7) 11; Total: (all out; 74.2 overs) 219; Fall of wickets: 2-119, 3-119, 4-121, 5-121, 6-156, 7-219, 8-219, 9-219, 10-219; Bowling: Anureet 18-4-52-5, JP Yadav 12-6-27-0, M Kartik 20.2-5-73-3 (7nb), V Tokas 16-5-39-1, S Bangar 8-2-24-1

Railways 2nd innings
V Cheluvaraj c Gurav b Kulkarni 0, M Suresh c Gurav b Powar 28, S Bangar batting 19, T Singh b Powar 5, Y Goud n.o. 5
Extras: (B2, LB2, NB3) 7
Total: (3 wickets; 32 overs) 64
Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Cheluvaraj, 8.1 ov), 2-41 (Suresh, 20.6 ov), 3-53 (Singh, 24.6 ov)  Bowling: Kulkarni 9-5-10-1, Raje 8-4-22-0, Abdulla 9-4-16-0, Powar 6-2-12-2 (3nb)

Elsewhere...
At Baroda: Uttar Pradesh 190 & 25/0 vs Baroda 309 all out (J Kolsawala 58, K Devdhar 66, A Rayudu 91, B Kumar 4/51)

At Kolkata: Bengal 562/6 decl (W Saha 178*, L Shukla 250) vs Assam 10/0
At Delhi: Gujarat 71 vs Delhi 248/3 (S Dhawan 116*, Y Nagar 69*)

At Rohtak: Karnataka 222 all out R Kumar 50, S Budhwar 5/56) vs Haryana 146/3 in 52 overs (N Saini 57*, S Singh 53)

At Dharmasala: Himachal Pradesh 473 all out (M Bisla 71, M Sharma 50, K Diwan 61, J Singh 3/96) vs Punjab 54/2

At Rajkot: Tamil Nadu 483/2 (A Mukund 217*, S Badrinath 142*) vs Saurashtra
Plate Division

At Vizag: Maharashtra 342/8 vs Andhra

At Porvorim: Goa 583 vs Jharkhand 38/1

At Hyderabad: Tripura 140 vs Hyderabad 277/4

At Malappuram: Vidarbha 138 vs Kerala 177/4

At Jaipur: Rajasthan 248/3 vs Madhya Pradesh

At Delhi: Services 453/7d vs Jammu & Kashmir 11/1