In the 72nd over of the day, Railways seamer Anureet Singh, got one to move away quite prodigiously from Irfan Pathan. On most occasions, the 30-year-old would have left it alone. But on Tuesday, Pathan followed the swing of the ball and looked to play a rather extravagant drive through the off side. In the end, all he managed to do was nick it to the keeper and Railways captain Mahesh Rawat. Pathan was out for 30 and Baroda were in a spot of bother at 230 for 7.

In the pavilion, Baroda coach Tushar Arothe looked distraught at the manner in which the all-rounder was dismissed. He was frustrated that Irfan had frittered away a good opportunity to make a decent score. Irfan’s dismissal, first over after tea, just typified Baroda’s day after they had won the toss and had elected to bat.

On a good batting track, barring Kedar Devdhar’s 80, none had managed to score a fifty. The rest got starts, played some exquisite strokes, and then inexplicably got out. “It is disappointing when your batsmen get starts but don’t convert. We would have ideally liked a century and three fifties from our remaining batsmen today,” Baroda coach Arothe said after the day’s play.

Ideal blend

The star of the day was 25-year-old opener Devdhar. Fresh from a career-defining 146, he had scored in his last Ranji Trophy duel against Uttar Pradesh, Kedar’s innings was an ideal blend of doggedness and flair.

Taking strike with Saurabh Wakaskar on a fresh wicket under overcast conditions at the Karnail Singh Stadium in the capital, a lot was expected from the young Baroda opening duo, who had previously given solid starts for their team.

That was not the case today as Wakaskar was dismissed for a duck, his first failure this season. Kedar was joined by captain Waghmode and the two took Baroda to 91 at lunch. In between, Kedar played some delightful strokes all round the wicket. His footwork was decisive against the new ball and and gave the Railways’ new ball bowlers Anureet and K.K Upadhyay the respect under overcast conditions early on.

Once the sun came out, Kedar became more assured and played some pleasing square-cuts and punches through the off side, and when the bowlers erred ever so slightly, he would flick them through the square-leg region. He was particularly severe against Upadhyay, who was guilty of bowling too short in the morning session. In the 18th, over, Baroda’s dimunitive opener launched himself against Upadhyay, hitting him for two back-to-back boundaries through the off side.

Ashish Yadav was brought first change, and he too like Upadhyay was guilty of bowling too short early on. Kedar and Waghmode were more than happy to just wait on their backfoot and milk the left-arm spinner. Kedar brought up his fifty in the opening session, not before he was dropped twice in the second slip.

Railways hit back

Baroda may have got the advantage in the opening session, but Railways pegged them back in the afternoon session, courtesy more purposeful bowling, led by off-spinner Arnab Nandi.

Nandi was accurate and hit a nagging length, which was just short of a driving length. The off-spinner trapped captain Waghmode in front for 41, ending the 107-run stand between him and Kedar for the second wicket. He then got Pandya bowled with a straight delivery. Seven runs later, with the score reading 136 for 3, Nandi managed to defeat Kedar in flight and got him stumped for a well-made 80.

The match was now in the balance. Railways had grabbed three wickets in 12 overs. Yusuf Pathan came in at the fall of Kedar’s wicket, and he immediately upped the ante. He lashed out against all the three spinners, lofting them for sixes at will. In between he kept the scoreboard ticking, picking up ones and twos at will. Pathan and Hooda had now added 43 runs in eight overs. Pathan was looking ominous. He was batting on 38 and poised to spoil the good work done by Nandi and Co. Pathan too like others departed, just when he was looking at his ominous best. He was out LBW to the left-arm spin of Ashish Yadav.

Baroda then lost Hooda for 23 and once the younger Pathan was also dismissed after tea, the onus was on Pinal Shah and Swapnil Singh to take Baroda to a respectable score at stumps.

The duo batted with commonsense and puspose. They were dogged in their approach, but did not miss out on an opportunity to despatch the odd loose deliveries than came their way. Shah and Singh added 41 runs for the eight wickets when stumps were eventually drawn.

Brief scores: Baroda 271/7 in 91 overs (K Devdhar 80, A Waghmode 41; A Nandi 3/68) vs Railways.