Karnataka denies Railways outright win

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 26. Rowland Barrington helped himself to a century as Karnataka drew some consolation in denying Railways an outright victory in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal at the Karnail Singh Stadium here on Monday.

Following this drawn encounter, Railways advanced to the last- four stage by virtue of its 214-run first innings lead. This is only the second occasion when Railways has come so far in the National championship. In the 1987-88 season, Railways had finished runner-up to Tamil Nadu.

For a place in the final, Railways now travels to Mohali and faces Punjab in the match beginning from April 5.

This morning, Railways resumed its second innings at 385 for six and declared at 418 for the nine. Yere Goud, overnight on 78, fell eight short of the three-figure mark. Vijay Bharadwaj took all the three wickets to fall.

Karnataka, needing to bat out 72 overs in order to prevent Railways an outright victory, went about its task with ease. Since the question of chasing 633 did not arise, Karnataka had to ensure that it did not lose early wickets and give Railways any hope of pulling off a dramatic victory. When play was eventually called off after 64 overs, Karnataka, aided by Barrington's unbeaten 100, reached 279 for four.

Barrington's second century in the championship - the first was on debut against Goa last season - was a timely one as it helped save further embarrassment for his team in the contest. Using his feet well against the spinners, Barrington went on to hit nine boundaries during his 193-ball stay.

Even as Barrington when about his task in a business- like manner, opener Beerala struck a quickfire 35 off 27 deliveries, dotted with eight boundaries. Vijay Bharadwaj raised visions of reaching his second half-century of this season before falling short.

G.K. Anil Kumar chose to use the long handle well and hit two sixes and as many boundaries in his 27. Thilak Naidu, who put on 104 runs for the fourth wicket with Barrington, smashed one six and six boundaries in his 46.

Among the bowlers, off-spinner Kulamani Parida, who did not bat due to a minor finger injury, bowled well and was rewarded with two wickets.

The scores:

Railways - 1st innings: 451

Karnataka - 1st innings: 237

Railways - 2nd innings: Amit Pagnis lbw b Ganesh 68, Sanjay Bangar b Ganesh 59, Tejinder Pal Singh lbw b Yalvigi 17, Yere Goud c Barrington b Bharadwaj 92, Abhay Sharma c Bhardwaj b Vadeyaraj 14, Raja Ali c Barrington b Yalvigi 13, Shriyas Khanolkar c Barrington b Ganesh 90, Santosh Sahu c (sub.) Shanbal b Bharadwaj 23, Zakir Hussain c Akhil b Bharadwaj 5, Harvinder Singh (not out) 4, Extras (b-11, lb-8, nb-12, w-2) 33, Total (for nine wickets decl.) 418.

Fall of wickets: 1-131, 2-138, 3-169, 4-192, 5- 219, 6-355, 7- 395, 8-413, 9-418.

Karnataka bowling: Dodda Ganesh 19-4-63- 3, B. Akhil 8-1-39-0, Vijay Bharadwaj 33.2-2-77-3, Santosh Vadeyaraj 44-9-113-1, Anand Yalvigi 25-5-98-2, Rowland Barrington 3-0-9-0

Karnataka - 2nd innings: Mithun Beerala c Bangar b Harvinder 35, Rowland Barrington (not out) 100, Vijay Bharadwaj b Parida 43, G.K. Anil Kumar c Bangar b Tejinder 27, Thilak Naidu c Bangar b Parida 46, B. Akhil (not out) 3, Extras (b-10, lb-4, nb-11) 25, Total (for four wickets) 279.

Fall of wickets: 1-52, 2-111, 3-155, 4- 259.

Railways bowling: Harvinder Singh 12-0- 62-1, Zakir Hussain 11-4- 36-0, Kulamani Parida 15-2-46-2, Tejinder Pal Singh 17-0-66-1, Khanolkar 6-0-30-0, Raja Ali 1-0-5- 0, Bangar 2-0-20-0.

Karnataka's Rowland Barrington hits a shot off the bowling of Tejinder Pal Singh of Railways in their quarterfinal encounter in New Delhi on Monday.

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