Railways v Orissa (Ranji Super League) Rakesh Sanghi, CricInfo - 6-9 February 1999 CricInfo report

Day 2 Report

It was a rejuvenated Railways that clawed its way back into the match, firstly by restricting a rampaging Orissa to 348 and then scoring sedately to be 62 for one at draw of stumps.

Overnight 245 for one, the match seemed to drifting Orissa's way but a gallant effort by the Railway bowlers, particularly Murli Karthik and Zakir Hussain, meant that the match has come alive.

Railways' seamer Zakir Hussain and left-arm spinner Murli Karthik rocked their opponent's boat with some inspired bowling on a placid track. In the first session of play itself, both the bowlers bowled a superb line to effectively put the skids on the Orissa batsmen having them groping at 309 for seven after having been at a position of strength at 269 for one.

Day 3: Mohanty derails Railways

Railways were fighting a losing battle, needing another 96 runs with just 2 wickets in hand to gain the all-important first inning lead against Orissa on the penultimate day

Pulling themselves together after they lost southpaw Asif Murtaza with only 25 on the board, the Railways pair of skipper Prahlad Rawat and Abhey Sharma raised visions of gaining the first inning lead and consequently 5 points from the match with a doughty partnership. But whatever hard work they put in was quickly undone by the other batsman who lacked skill and application, on a track that offered no assistance to the Orissa bowlers.

In a breathtaking spell of accuracy and movement in the pre-lunch session, fast bowler Debashish Mohanty took three wickets, sending jitters through the Railway camp. Resuming from the overnight score of 62 for 1 Railways slid to 92 for 3 before Rawat and Sharma provided a steadying influence to the middle-order.

At 243 for 5 the Railmen were still in with a chance till some reckless batting towards the fag end of the day saw Railways plummet to 255 for 8. The hosts have dug themselves a hole from which it woll be hard to emerge from, with a day to play in the battle for first innings points.

Day 4: Orissa garner 5 points in a drawn tie

Orissa bagged 5 points in their first league encounter of the Group-B Super League matches against Railways.

Railways were bundled out for 295 in their first innings against a score of 348 by Orissa in its first innings. Test discard Debashish Mohanty and Sanjay Satpathy ripped through the Railways batsmen by claiming four and three wickets respectively.

At close of play Orissa in their second innings were 175 for four. Pradeep Dass remained not out on 60.