A solid 114-run knock by T P Singh helped Railways reach a respectable 278 for six on the opening day of Elite Group A Ranji Trophy match against Baroda at the IPCL ground in Vadodara on Thursday.
Railway skipper Harvinder Singh's decision to bat first failed to yeild desired result as the visitors lost three quick wickets of Amit Pagnis, Shreyas Khanolkar and Siddharth Verma with total reading 41 in 15.4 overs.
It was T P Singh and Raja Ali who prevented the collapse and took the total to 180 runs with their 139-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
Ajit Bhoite broke the partnership claiming Ali's wicket who was eight runs away from his half century.
Singh did not survive long and was out leg before to Bhoite. His 114-run knock included 13 hits to the fence.
Skipper Harvinder Singh's unbeaten 43-run partnership for the seventh wicket with Yere Goud further strengthened the visitor's position.
At the draw of stumps Goud was not out on 23 while Harvinder was on 27.
Ajit Bhoite was the pick of the bowler claiming 3/69 while Rakesh Patel took 2/27 and Shekhar Joshi 1/53.
Railways 1st innings:
S Khanolkar c Mongia b R Patel 24
A Pagnis lbw b R Patel 4
T P Singh lbw b A Bhoite 114
S Verma b S Joshi 1
R Ali b A Bhoite 42
Y Goud not out 23
S Wankhede c R Patel b A Bhoite 22
Harvinder Singh not out 27
Extras (8-b, 8-lb, 5-nb) 21
Total ( for 6 wkts in 92.2 overs) 278
Fall of wickets: 1/16, 2/36, 3/41, 4/180, 5/209, 6/235.
Bowling: Rakesh Patel 20-8-27-2, Shekhar Joshi 13-1-53-1, Ajit Bhoite 29-4-69-3, Tushar Arothe 12-1-54-0, Valmik Buch 18-1-59-0.