Gujarat huffed and puffed their way to a narrow 20-run lead over Railways, riding on a patient innings of 107 from opener Nilesh Modi, on the third day of the five-day Ranji Trophy Plate Division final at the Brabourne Stadium on Monday.

Resuming at the overnight 140 for two, Gujarat lost wickets at steady intervals, particularly against the medium paced swing bowling of Sanjay Bangar, before being dismissed for 280 in the first innings, late into the final session of play, in reply to Railways' modest total of 260.

Railways started on a poor note in the second innings, with opener Siddharth Joshi flopping for the second time in the match, before ending the day at 14 for one.

Bangar (0 off 25 balls) and night watchman Murali Kartik [Images] (9), the team captain, were the unbeaten batsmen at stumps. 

Earlier, spearheaded by Bangar (five for 54), Railways made Gujarat fight for every run but could not prevent them from taking the token lead.

Gujarat lost nightwatchman Mohnish Parmar with the addition of only eight runs before Modi (overnight 66) and Niraj Patel (14 in 98 minutes) stitched together a stand of 45 runs for the fourth wicket.

Modi, who batted for more than seven hours in his 317-ball innings hitting 18 fours in the process, and Jay Desai fell in quick succession to make Gujarat 219 for six.

However, Hemal Joshipura (36 in 118 balls with 5 fours) and Timil Patel (17) put on a vital stand of 36 runs to bring Gujarat five runs short of their rivals' total which they overhauled soon.

Scorecard:

Railways (1st innings): 260
Gujarat (1st innings, overnight 140/2):
N Modi c Bangar b H Singh 107
R Tabiar c Rawat b Bangar 14
P Patel b Saxena 52
M Parmar lbw b Bangar 4
N Patel c Bangar b Parida 14
H Joshipura c Rawat b Parida 36
J Desai lbw b Bangar 1
T Patel c Rawle b Bangar 17
A Singh c & b Bangar 21
A Makda c Parida b Kartik 1
S Trivedi not out 0
Extras: (nb 13) 13
Total: (all out in 145.2 overs) 280

Fall of wickets: 1-53, 2-140, 3-148, 4-193, 5-218, 6-219, 7-255, 8-267, 9-280, 10-280

Bowling: H Singh 22-9-38-1, S Bangar 42-19-54-5, S Sanyal 5-1-15-0, S Saxena 26-11-45-1, M Kartik 29.2-12-59-1, K Parida 20-6-67-2, K Sharma 1-0-2-0

Railways (2nd innings):
S Joshi c P Patel b Makda 1
S Bangar not out 0
M Kartik not out 9
Extras: (lb 4) 4
Total: (for 1 wicket in 8 overs) 14

Fall of wickets: 1-5

Bowling: S Trivedi 3-1-5-0, A Makda 4-3-1-1, M Parmar 1-0-4-0