Rawat's resolute hundred earns Railways a draw

A resolute hundred by Mahesh Rawat, and PM Madkaikar's half-century, helped Railways escape defeat against Madhya Pradesh and earn a point in their Ranji Trophy Group A encounter, which ended in a draw on the fourth and final day, in Bhubaneshwar, on Tuesday.

Struggling at 54 for 5, and trailing Madhya Pradesh by 110 runs to avoid an innings defeat, it was a matter of survival for Railways on the last day.

- Dhruv stars in Gujarat\'s easy win
- Punjab bag 3 points vs Mumbai

And they did survive, finishing on 251 for eight, with Rawat scoring a brilliant 106 off 200 balls, hitting 16 fours in the process.

He spent 297 minutes in the middle.

PM Madkaikar also played an important innings of 52 from 169 balls, laced with five boundaries and a six.

In reply to MP's first innings total of 377, Railways were bundled out for 214 in their first essay and made to follo-on.

Resuming on 54 for five while following-on, Railways lost V Cheluvaraj, who started on 23, early. The overnight batsman could add only seven more runs to the total.

When Cheluvaraj was out, Railways were reeling at 70 for six and MP must have thought that it was just a matter of time before they could pocket the full six points from the game.

But Rawat, the other overnight batsman, slogged it out, and in the able company of Madkaikar, took the team forward.

The duo put on a valuable 148-run stand together for the seventh wicket and made sure that Railways finish with a draw.

The MP bowlers tried hard but could take only three opposition wickets on the entire day.

Brief Scores:

Madhya Pradesh: 377

Railways: 214 & 251 for 8 in 113 overs (Mahesh Rawat 106, PM Madkaikar 52; Amarjeet Singh 3-15, Anand Rajan 3-52).

Points: MP 3, Railways 1.