Thanks to Rameez Khan's hundred and a half-century knock by Anand Rajan, Madhya Pradesh posted 377 all out in their first innings and then reduced Railways to 63 for three on the second day of their Group A Ranji Trophy match in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.
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At stumps, Railways were struggling with V Cheluvaraj batting on 10 and PM Madkaikar unbeaten on five.
Resuming the day on 212 for five, both the overnight batsmen -- Rameez and Rajan -- gave their team an ideal start.
While Rameez, starting on 82, went on to score a patient 128 off 362 balls with the help of 13 hits to the fence, Rajan, resuming on 0, hit a 203-ball 69 laced with six fours.
The duo put on a 94-run stand together for the sixth wicket to take the team past 300-run mark.
When Rameez got out, MP had already reached 304.
Rajan then continued in the company of the tailenders and was well supported by Harpreet Singh (16) and Ankit Sharma (21) -- to take the team forward.
For Railways, Sanjay Bangar was the pick of the bowlers with four for 81.
In reply to MP's first innings total, Railways had a poor start as they lost both their openers, as well as the one down batsman cheaply to be reeling at just over 60, still trailing by a huge 314 runs with seven wickets in hand.
On Monday Railways would have play out of their skins if they want to overtake MP's first innings score.
Brief scores:
MP: 1st innings: 377 all out in 155.5 overs (Rameez Khan 128, Anand Rajan 69; Sanjay Bangar 4/81).
Railways: 1st innings: 63 for three in 21 overs (SS Shukla 27; Amarjeet Singh 1/10).
