The Elite 'A' group Ranji Trophy match between Baroda and Railways is poised for an interesting finish after the hosts managed to avoid the follow-on and made their opposition bat again on the third day of the encounter at the IPCL ground at Vadodara on Saturday.
Railways were tottering at 84 for eight wickets when the stumps were drawn and have taken an overall lead of 220 runs.
Earlier, resuming at their overnight total of 73 for 5 wickets, Nayan Mongia and Tushar Arothe could not survive for long and lost the former when the team's total was 79.
Ajit Bhoite then came to the crease and took upon himself the responsibility of scoring runs and prevent the inevitable follow on.
Arothe and Bhoite added valuable 73 runs for the seventh wicket and took the total to 152 runs. But both of them were sent back to the pavilion in quick succession by spinner Madan Yadav.
After losing 8 wickets at a total of 163 runs, Baroda looked in a precarious position but then tail enders Rakesh Patel (22), Valmik Buch (24 not out) and Shekhar Joshi (11) helped the side avoid the follow-on by taking the score to 217.
In their second essay, Railways batsmen could not withstand the accurate bowling of Baroda bowlers and were soon reduced to 37 for 4 at tea.
After tea, they lost four more wickets and were 84 for 8 wickets at draw of stumps with S Wankhede (6) and Saxena (0) being on the crease.
Scoreboard:
Baroda 1st Innings: (Overnight 73 for 5):
R Parab c Parida b Saxena 1
S Parab c Khanolkar b Harvinder Singh 31
C Williams c Pagnis b Harvinder Singh 1
J Martin b Harvinder Singh 2
N Mongia lbw b Harvinder Singh 23
S Gaekwad b Harvinder Singh 0
T Arothe b M Yadav 29
A Bhoite st Wankhede b Yadav 55
R Patel b S Khanolkar 22
V Buch batting 24
S Joshi lbw Parida 11
Extras: (b 8, lb 6, nb 4) 18
Total: (all out) 217
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-6, 3-36, 4-43, 5-47, 6-79, 7-152, 8-163, 9-197.
Bowling: Harvinder Singh 18-5-40-5, Santosh Saxena 15-3-27-1, Madan Yadav 25-8-50-2, Kulmani Parida 21.3-6-42-1, Shreyas Khanolkar 13-4-44-1.
Railways IInd Innings:
S Khanolkar c S Parab b Joshi 5
A Pagnis lbw b Patel 4
T P Singh lbw b Joshi 15
S Verma lbw b Joshi 1
R Ali b Bhoite 37
Y Goud c Mongia b Buch 7
S Wankhede not out 6
H Singh c & b Bhoite 0
K Parida lbw Buch 0
S Saxena not out 0
Extras: (lb 3, nb 6) 9
Total: (For 8 wickets) 84
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-14, 3-15, 4-37, 5-70, 6-82, 7-82, 8-83.
Bowling: Rakesh Patel 8-3-24-1, Shekhar Joshi 8-1-24-3, Valmik Buch 8-2-16-2, Ajit Bhoite 8-1-17-2.