Railways took control of the proceedings as the restricted Maharashtra to101 for three at stumps on the second day’s play in the Ranji Trophypre-quarterfinal match at the Poona Club ground in Pune on Sunday

Staff Reporter11-Mar-2001Railways took control of the proceedings as the restricted Maharashtra to101 for three at stumps on the second day’s play in the Ranji Trophypre-quarterfinal match at the Poona Club ground in Pune on Sunday. Earlier,Railways, who resumed at 342 for five were all out for 431.The final session of play saw Railways get the upper hand. Maharashtraopeners Surinder Bhave (6) and JS Narse (40) batted cautiously to put on 23runs off 11.4 overs. Bhave was the first to be sent back, bowled by seamerHarvinder Singh. This brought the Maharashtra skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkarto the crease and he and Narse took the score to 79. But in the 31st overof the innings, Harvinder Singh returned to dismiss Narse, caught behind byAbhay Sharma. New batsman Abhijit Kale (4) did not last long. Harvindersent him packing with the second ball of his next over, caught by SanjayBangar.KD Aphale (3) joined his skipper and the two safely negotiated the rest ofthe overs till stumps. Kanitkar at close was batting with 43 (100 balls,three fours). But in the face of the mammoth Railways’ total, Maharashtrastill have a lot of work ahead of them. Harvinder Singh took all the threewickets for 45 runs off 16 overs.Earlier, Railways’ overnight batsman Abhay Sharma (59) and SN Kanolkar (76)could not extend their partnership for very long as Abhay Sharma departedcaught by SS Bhave off MS Kulkarni with the score line reading 355. Thesixth wicket partnership was worth 63 runs. PS Rawat who replaced Sharmadid not last long and in the 97th over he fell leg before to Kulkarni. ThenKanolkar was helped by KS Parida (32) who shared 62 runs for the eighthwicket to help the total swell to 421. The last two wickets fell for theaddition of only 10 runs.