Left-arm spinner Mukund Parmar and medium pacer Ashraf Makda enabled Gujarat bundle out defending champions Railways for paltry 188 runs in the first innings on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy elite Group 'A' match in Delhi on Friday.
Parmar (4 for 41) and left arm medium pacer Makda (3 for 24) wrought havoc as the Railways batsmen fumbled against them on a placid home pitch.
- Ranji Trophy 2005-06: Complete coverage
But for a stouthearted 81-run second wicket partnership between opener Shankar Rao and skipper Sanjay Bangar, Railways would have been in worse plight.
Railways, who have yet to earn a point, having conceded the first innings lead in their two previous outings in the competition so far, again disappointed with the bat on a track that had no demons in it.
Bangar won the toss and elected to bat but the hosts suffered a setback in the sixth over with Mada drawing the first blood for the visitors as he had opener Amit Pagnis (4) caught behind by Parthiv Patel. The score at that stage was 11.
Shankar Rao and Bangar tried to stabilize the innings foiling the visitors' bid for another quick wicket and took the score to 71 for one at lunch in 37 overs.
However, the second session saw a dramatic batting collapse as Railways lost five wickets for 74 runs to end at 145 for six at tea in 70 overs.
The collapse was triggered off by the dismissal of Bangar when he fished at outside the off stump to delivery of Parmar and Nilesh Modi took a smart catch in slip.
Bangar contributed 39 (4x4, 163m). The score at that stage was 92 for two and one run later Parmar struck again dismissing Shankar Rao. The opener, attempting to sweep, dragged his foot out and was superbly stumped. Rao made 44 (4x4,197 minutes).
After the loss of these two quick wickets, the Railways batting fell apart and the remaining seven batsmen could add only 95 runs in 40.1 overs to the team's kitty.
Scorecard
Railways (1st innings):
G Shankara Rao st P Patel b M Parmar 44
Amit Pagnis c P Patel b A Makda 4
Sanjay Bangar c Modi b M Parmar 39
J P Yadav st P Patel b M Parmar 3
Raja Ali lbw b M Parmar 6
Yere Goud run out 21
S Khanolkar lbw b S Yadav 9
S Wankhede lbw b A Makda 29
K Parida c N Modi b A Makda 15
Harvinder Singh b S Trivedi 5
Madan Yadav not out 0.
Extras: (lb 7, nb 6) 13.
Total: (In 90.1 overs, 352 mins) 188.
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-92, 3-93, 4-100, 5-103, 6-116, 7-147, 8-175, 9-188.
Bowling: S Trivedi 11-2-25-1, A Makda 19.1-9-24-3, Hemal Watekar 7-2-16-0, S Yadav 20-7-45-1, K Damani 7-3-18-0, M Parmar 18-3-41-4, N Patel: 8-2-12-0.
More from rediff