Ranji Trophy 2015: Bowlers power Gujarat to innings win over Railways

Gujarat bowlers took 70 overs and within that time span picked 16 Railways wickets to romp home to an easy win.

Gujarat bowlers picked 16 Railways wickets in a little over 70 overs to register an innings and 36 runs-win in the Group B Ranji Trophy contest at the Karnail Singh Stadium on Saturday.

Life wasn’t easy for the bowlers on the first two days. RP Singh’s brilliance towards the fag end of the second day lifted the mood in the visitors’ camp, especially for their bowling unit. The Parthiv Patel-led unit worked around a well-chalked-out plan on Day 3 and were rewarded at regular intervals for their approach.

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Jasprit Bumrah started with a lively spell in the morning session which reduced Railways to a precarious position. The seamer worked up decent pace and unleashed the effort ball to catch the batsman off-guard. His plan was simple – keep bowling fast and bend your back for the delivery which behaves differently off the good-length spot. The 21-year-old repeated the drill and cleaned-up a hapless Railways lower-order in their first innings.

The right-arm quick bowled the fastest spell of the game and struck in his first over on Day 3. Success followed in the second over too, as he produced identical dismissals of Prashant Awasthi and Mahesh Rawat to reduce Railways to 168/6, from 168/4.

The writing was on the wall. Railways, after an impressive win in their last Ranji contest, were now facing an uphill task of saving this game, and denying the opposition possible six (for outright) or seven points (bonus). The denial lasted for about 20 overs, with the Arindam Ghosh-Arnab Nandi stand, but once the second new ball was handed over to RP Singh, game was only heading one way.

RP wasted very little time and cleaned up the tail to bundle out the hosts for 234. With the bowlers in the middle for 30 overs, Gujarat, chasing an outright win, enforced the follow-on.

RP and company stretched with the fitness trainer and physio before their day under the sun, and returned to repeat the drill.

The left-arm quick was in a decent rhythm and he struck early – in fifth over of Railways second innings. A well set-up plan dismissed the home side’s top-scorer in the first innings – Saurabh. The left-hander was castled by a full RP delivery.

It was probably the first as the seamer, early in the spell, persisted with deliveries leaving the batsman. He was searching for that late movement, but there wasn’t any. The former India quick made the quick change in his approach, and was rewarded. Twice in space of two overs.

Railways lost their top-order inside the first twenty overs and only a special effort would have stretched the game into Day 4. Mehul Patel, Gujarat’s promising quick, was in no mood to turn up on a Sunday as the seamer, along with Bumrah, applied the finishing touch to bundle out the hosts for only 117 in their second innings.

Brief Scores: Railways 234 & 117 (1st innings: Saurabh 93; Bumrah 4/47, RP 4/55. 2nd innings: Arindam 25 no; Mehul 3/25, Bumrah 3/37) lost to Gujarat 387. Gujarat 7 points, Railways 0