Railways pegs back Baroda

By G. Viswanath

BARODA, APRIL 19. Like a lightweight boxer throwing snappy punches and scoring big points Tejinderpal Singh left the ambitious and optimistic home team Baroda a little dazed in the last one and a half hours of play on Thursday on day one of the Ranji Trophy final at the Gujarat State Fertilizers Corporation (GSFC) ground. Railways will now consider itself as the front runner and fancy its chances of winning the title after putting up an outstanding first up.

It all began with medium pacer Harvinder Singh getting Baroda's top run getter for the season, Satyajit Parab, edging to wicketkeeper Abhay Sharma off the first ball he sent down. The home team was immediately under pressure. Captain Jacob Martin and before him Nayan Mongia also departed quickly and in less than three quarters of an hour Baroda was reeling at 30 for three.

Baroda has picked three fast bowlers in left handers Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan (jr) and right hander Rakesh Patel. Martin had made a bold statement on Wednesday that the pitch will help seamers. In the event Martin ought to have asked Railways to bat but he adhered to the conventional course most captains follow. He decided to bat on the rationale that his team would not have to bat on a wearing pitch in the fourth innings.

Harvinder accounted for Martin while Sanjay Bangar made Nayan Mongia reach forward and edge to gully where Shreyas Khanolkar took a two-handed catch at ankle height. Parab and Martin put together had made close to 1,200 runs in seven matches and to have ejected them out for a combined score of `nil' was in itself a fine achievement.

Left handed opener Connor Williams took horror start of his team in his stride. After an edged four to third man Williams hit a delectable boundary 40 minutes into the morning session. His third and fourth boundaries came exactly after an hour when he first cut Bangar and then hit him straight down the ground. While Williams showed caution his partner, who joined him at the fall skipper Martin, Tushar Arothe launched a counter- attack that brought some comfort for Baroda.

A veteran of many seasons, Arothe, was severe on left hand spinner Murali Kartik whom he hammered for three fours and a six in the latter's eighth over. But Harvinder delivered once again. Railways captain Abhay Sharma - who was given stitches on his upper lip after taking a blow from a ball from Kartik that turned and bounced - kept his faith in Harvinder. That Sharma came back to field despite his injury said a lot about his commitment. He did not keep wickets though; he left that job to Sudhir Wankhede who was included in the 11 for the injured Rajah Ali.

When Arothe was cutting loose and had made a quick half century he rung in Harvinder for his third spell. This move worked as Arothe in a mood to sustain the assault on Railways, cut Harvinder failed to keep the shot down. The result of a flat hit was a brilliant over-the-head catch held by Khanolkar at gully. The third wicket partnership realised 77 runs.

Williams continued to bat in a dogged fashion before he drove offspinner Kulmani Parida to Yere Goud at cover. Baroda was in a predicament when Parida picked up his second wicket in the same over when he had Himanshu Jadhav playing for the spin to trap him leg before off a straighter one.

The third half century from a batsman who believes in the proverbial `throwing caution to the wind' gave some substance to the Baroda total. Ajit Bhoite has built a reputation for big hitting. Here he smashed Kartik, Harvinder and Parida all over the park. He and Rakesh Patel added 69 for the seventh wicket, 57 of them scored by Bhoite with 10 boundaries. It was the most productive phase and perhaps the most entertaining part of Baroda's first innings before Tejinderpal Singh surpassed him in making stunning strokes.

Baroda was bowled out for 243 with Harvinder adding one more wicket to take his tally to four. Bangar finished with a three- wicket haul. There was a bit of drama at the end of the innings. Valmik Buch, putting all his weight behind a straight hit, saw Bangar deflecting the ball on to the stumps leaving non- striker Irfan Pathan (who had not faced a ball) a couple of yards down the pitch as he had backed up too far.

It was a result of disciplined bowling, with the exception of Kartik, by Railways that saw Baroda dismissed for a small score. And barring Martin, who must take the blame for playing a poor shot, none of the other batsmen played an irresponsible shot.

Railways lost left hander Amit Pagnis who shuffled too far across for Patel to knock back his leg stump. Pagnis' exit brought in Tejinderpal Singh, whose inhibited batting blunted the pace attack of Baroda. The left hander struck clean shots. Two exquisite shots which stuck to the mind were a flick of his pads off Patel over the long leg fence for a six and later a lofted shot off left hander spinner Buch straight towards the sightscreen. In the closing minutes he whipped two well timed on- drives off Khan. It spoke of his confidence and class. Railways finished at 91 for one at stumps.

The scores:

Baroda - 1st innings: Satyajit Parab c Sharma b Harvinder 0, Connor Williams c Goud b Parida 65, N. Mongia c Khanolkar b Bangar 4, Jacob Martin c Sharma b Harvinder 0, Tushar Arothe c Khanolkar b Harvinder 52, Himanshu Jadhav lbw b Parida 10, Ajit Bhoite b Bangar 57, Rakesh Patel c Kartik b Bangar 16, Valmik Buch (not out) 10, Zaheer Khan c Wankhede b Harvinder 5, Irfan Pathan (Jr) (run out) 0, Extras (b-3, nb-21) 24, Total (in 64.1 overs) 243.

Fall of wickets: 0-1, 2-20, 3-30, 4-107, 5-149, 6-150, 7-219, 8- 238, 9-243.

Railways bowling: Harvinder 20-5-59-4, Bangar 12.1-2-55-3, Kartik 12-2-70-0, Parida 16-5-36-2, Tejinderpal 4-0-20-0.

Railways - 1st innings: Amit Pagnis b Patel 7, Sanjay Bangar (batting) 21, Tejinderpal Singh (batting) 60, Extras (nb-3) 3, Total (for one wkt in 23 overs) 91.

Fall of wicket: 1-17

Baroda bowling: Khan 8-2-26-0, Patel 9-0-29-1, Pathan 2-0-25-0, Buch 4-2-11-0.

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