J P Yadav scored a chanceless century to help Railways script their first-ever Ranji Trophy victory over Delhi in an Elite Group 'A' match in Delhi on Wednesday.
Chasing 240 for a victory, Railways got themselves into a spot of bother before Yadav rescued the side with an impressive 101. The hosts reached 244 for seven in the 10th mandatory over for the momorable win at the Karnail Singh stadium.
Earlier, Delhi resuming at their overnight score of 198 for six, were all out for 278 with Pradeep Chawla top-scoring with 82.
With four points from the match, Railways took their tally to six, while Delhi, who are yet to register a win this season, continue to languish with one point.
After the reverse against Kerala, to whom they conceded two points on the basis of the first innings lead, Railways have now brightened their chances of making it to the semifinals from the group.
However, Railways skipper Sanjay Bangar said the team is not looking that far at the moment. "It is too early to say this. We will be going match by match and would not like to jump to any conclusion," said Bangar, who replaced Abhay Sharma as the skipper just before the start of the match.
But for Delhi, it would be herculean task ahead since they would need to win their remaining matches to be in contention for a semi-final berth.
"Our group is a tough one and there are still four more matches to go. We will be playing Punjab in the next match and they are also struggling. But nothing can be said at this juncture," Delhi coach Madan Lal said.
Beginning their chase, Railways could not have asked for anything worse since they lost Amit Pagnis (0) in the very first over. The opener was run-out by Mithun Manhas with the hosts yet to open their account.
Railways suffered another blow when Bangar was trapped leg before by Sanjay Gill for four with the scoreboard reading nine.
Tejinder Pal Singh (26) and Yadav played cautiously to take the score to 68 before the former was dismissed by debutant Kunal Lal for 26. Shreyas Khanolkar (12), promoted in the batting order, also did not last long as he joined the top-order back in the pavilion after being castled by Kunal.
At 98 for four, the match seemed heading for an exciting finish as Siddharth Verma (38) joined Yadav in the middle and the two batted with purpose to take the side closer to the target.
But three more wickets in quick sucession -- Verma, Yadav and Sudhir Wankhede (1) -- put the pressure back on the hosts before Yere Goud (26) and Harvinder Singh (7) coasted the side to victory under fading lights with an unfinished partnership of 21 runs.
"I had asked the boys to be positive as it was a difficult task to chase almost 250 runs on this wicket. But they, particularly J P Yadav, played sensibly to win the match," Railways coach Vinod Sharma said.
Bangar said he was not worried when his side was reduced to 223 for seven at one stage, still needing 17 more runs to win against some hostile bowling by Delhi pacers.
"I had full confidence on my batsmen. Yere was still there. So it was not really worried," he said.
Delhi captain Mithun Manhas tried to draw positives from the loss saying it would give the players, particularly the new ones, the chance to learn from their mistakes.
"Eight of them are quite young. Though we lost, it was a learning experience," Manhas said.
"They are good, hard-working and ready to learn. These qualities will help them in the long run."
The fourth round of matches will start on December 1 with both Railways and Delhi playing away matches against Uttar Pradesh and Punjab respectively.
Scoreboard:
Delhi 1st innings: 195
Railways 1st innings: 234
Delhi 2nd innings:
S Oberoi c Wankhede b Hussain 36
Pururaj Singh c Bangar b Harvinder 6
V Dahiya c Wankhede b Khanolkar 61
M Manhas lbw b Harvinder 8
P Chawla b Harvinder 82
Varun Kumar lbw b Harvinder 4
N S Negi lbw b Parida 10
Sarandeep Singh lbw b Yadav 6
Abhishek Sharma C Pagnis b Yadav 19
Kunal Lal c Pagnis b Yadav 5
Sanjay Gill not out 15
Extras: (b-10, lb-14, nb-2) 26
Total: (all out in 110.3 overs) 278
Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-75, 3-97, 4-158, 5-175, 6-190, 7-206, 8-232, 9-246.
Bowling: Hussain 14-3-38-1, Bangar 19-5-37-0, Harvinder Singh 25.3-6-58-4, Parida 29-6-61-1, J P Yadav 16-1-43-3, Khanolkar 6-1-14-1, T P Singh 1-0-3-0.
Railways (2nd innings):
S Bangar lbw b Gill 4
A Pagnis run out 0
T P Singh C Chawla b Kunal 26
J P Yadav b Negi 101
S Khanolkar b Kunal 12
S Verma run out 38
Yere Goud not out 26
S Wankhede b Gill 1
Harvinder Singh not out 7
Extras: (b-21, lb-6, nb-2) 29
Total (for 7 wkts, 62.5 overs) 244
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-9, 3-68, 4-96, 5-198, 6-222, 7-223.
Bowling: Gill 15.5-3-60-2, Kunal 11-1-43-2, Negi 17-1-52-1, Sarandeep 9-0-27-0, Abhishek 10-1-35-0.