Gujarat & Rlys share honours on day one

Ahmedabad: Railways bounced back after being bowled out for 156 against Gujarat on the first day of their semifinal in the Col C K Nayudu Trophy, at the Narendra Modi Stadium ground ‘B’ in Motera on Sunday. At stumps, Gujarat were 156 for 7 in their first innings. Electing to bat first after winning the toss, Railways got off to a disastrous start losing opener Ankush Singh (0) caught behind by Urvil Patel off Jay Malusare’s bowling. K T Marathe tried to resurrect the innings along with Rudra Dhanday but the latter was dismissed for seven, caught by Kshitij Patel off Jayveer Sinh’s bowling. Marathe waged a lone battle against the Gujarat attack, even as wickets fell regularly at the other end. He hit 11 boundaries in his knock of 74. Kartikeya Kushwaha was the next best batter, contributing 20. Only five batters managed to reach double figures as Railways were bowled out for 156 in 49 overs. Yash Doshi was the wrecker-in-chief, returning figures of four for 45 while Vishal Jayswal grabbed three wickets conceding 58 runs. In reply, the hosts responded solidly despite losing opener L M Kocher for seven. Despite losing two more wickets, Gujarat were strongly placed at 137 for three before losing four wickets for 19 runs towards the end of day’s play to stumble to 156 for7. Urvil smashed two sixes and seven boundaries in his 64-ball 73-run knock. Aarya Desai and captain Kshitij contributed 28 each. For Railways, Ayan Chaudhari (60/4) grabbed four wickets to haul them back in the contest.