Yuvraj Singh slammed a fluent 80 as Punjab replied strongly in their first innings to the Railways' total of 390 in an 'Elite' Group A Ranji Trophy match in Delhi on Wednesday.

After restricting Railways' first innings within the 400-run mark, Punjab finished the second day at the Karnail Singh Stadium at 157 for three.

Yuvraj's billigerent knock came off just 81 balls and contained 15 fours and a six over mid-wicket, off Shreyas Khanolkar, as Punjab piled on the runs in 53 overs.

Dinesh Mongia also made a patient 33 and added 79 runs for the second wicket with Yuvraj Singh after opener Ravneet Ricky (2) fell cheaply, leg before to Harvinder Singh, with the scoreboard reading 26.

Yuvraj enthralled the small crowd with amazing display of strokeplay before perishing to a Shreyas Khanolkar delivery.

He frittered away the opportunity to score a century in a bid to score quick runs and offered a return catch to the off-spinner.

Mongia, who had till then played with his head down, also lost his wicket when he tried to lift crafty off-spinner Kulamani Parida for six. Khanolkar came off with a spectacular catch at long-off to sent Mongia back to the pavilion.

Pankaj Dharmani (27) and Reetinder Singh Sodhi (13) played sensibly to deny anymore wicket to the home bowlers.

Earlier, Gagandeep Singh's five-wicket haul restricted Railways, who had started the day at a commanding 311 for 4.

Scoreboard:

Railways 1st innings:
A Pagnis c Chandan Mohan b Sodhi       10
S Bangar lbw b Navdeep Singh              79
T P Singh C Mongia b Gagandeep        168
J P Yadav lbw b Uniyal                            42
Y Goud c Chandan Mohan b Uniyal         5
S Verma c Chandan Madan b Gagandeep  25
S Khanolkar lbw b Gagandeep                  5
Santosh Sahu c Mongia b Gagandeep       7
S Wankhede b Gagandeep                     8
Harvinder Singh lbw b Navdeep            25
K Parida not out                                    0

Extras (b-1, lb-7, nb-7, w-1)          16

Total (all out, 127.1 overs)          390

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-219, 3-294, 4-311, 45-314, 6-329, 7-337, 8-349, 9-386.

Bowling: Gagandeep 34-13-61-5, Uniyal 32-5-121-2, Sodhi 19-2-74-1, Navdeep 26.1-11-53-2, Rajesh Sharma 12-0-52-0, D Mongia 4-0-21-0.

Punjab 1st innings:
R Ricky lbw b Harvinder               2
Yuvraj Singh c and b Khanolkar       80
D Mongia c Khanolkar b Parida        33
P Dharmani batting                   27
Reetinder Sodhi batting               13

Extras (lb-2)                         2

Total (for 3 wkts, 53 overs)        157

Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-105, 3-135.

Bowling: Harvinder Singh 12-6-15-1, J P Yadav 3-0-24-0, Bangar 3-1-20-0, Parida 20-5-49-1, Khanolkar 12-2-41-1, Goud 3-0-6-0.