Sanjay Bangar scored an unbeaten 111 to put Railways in a strong position at 242 for four on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match against Tamil Nadu in Delhi on Tuesday.
Coming in at No 3, Bangar vindicated captain Murali Kartik's decision to bat first at the Karnail Singh stadium as he stitched together two important partnerships -- 80 with opener Faiz Fazal and 76 with Yere Goud -- to give Railways the advantage.
Fazal was the other main contributor with 70 off 164 balls, including 11 fours, before he fell to Ravichandran Ashwin in the post-lunch session.
When stumps were drawn, Sanjib Sanyal was unbeaten on six with Bangar, who struck 14 fours and two sixes off the 217 balls he faced.
Railways' run-rate though was a tad low as they could score only 242 from the 94 overs they faced -- at 2.57 runs an over. Opener V Cheluvaraj consumed as many as 58 balls for his 13.
Tamil Nadu used as many as seven bowlers but it was a toil for all of them throughout the day.
Ashwin was the most successful Railways bowler with two wickets from his 33 overs. Abhinav Mukund and Suresh Kumar took a wicket apiece. India discard Lakshmipathy Balaji went wicketless from his 16 overs.
Scorecard
Railways (1st innings):
Faiz Fazal st Karthik b Ashwin 70
V Cheluvaraj c Srinivas b Mukund 13
Sanjay Bangar not out 111
TP Singh c Vijay b Ashwin 4
Yere Goud c Mukund b Kumar 14
Sanjib Sanyal not out 6
Extras: (b-6, lb-10, w-5, nb-3) 24
Total: (For 4 wkts in 94 overs) 242
Fall of wickets: 1-55, 2-135, 3-139, 4-215
Bowling: L Balaji 16-5-37-0; R Jesuraj 18-3-48-0; C Ganapathy 8-3-18-0; A Mukund 2-0-4-1; R Ashwin 33-8-84-2; Aushik Srinivas 15-5-29-0; SS Kumar 2-0-6-1.
