Jai Prakash Yadav's fine all-round display helped Railways down Delhi by five wickets, with nearly 10 overs to spare, and enter the quarter-finals of the Ranji Inter-State One-Day knock-out tournament at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Friday.
Yadav complemented pace bowler Harvinder Singh, who picked four wickets, with his seam-up stuff to claim two wickets and reduce Delhi to 27 for five before a valiant knock of 98 by skipper Ajay Jadeja rallied Delhi to a modest total of 213 for 8 in 50 overs.
Yadav came to his side's rescue again during the run chase, scoring a counter-attacking 60 off 65 balls, with seven fours and three sixes, and put on a century stand with skipper Sanjay Bangar (55 off 90 balls) in the process, to pave the way for victory after Railways were left struggling at 68 for 3.
Earlier, Delhi were left tottering by Harvinder and Yadav after opting to bat first on winning the toss. They lost half of the side by the eighth itself before the innings was propped by the experience of Jadeja.
Jadeja, who was out off the last ball two short of a deserving hundred, hit six fours and three sixes in his 148-ball knock.
Jadeja was given good support by Rajat Bhatia, who scored 46 off 74 balls, as the two pulled Delhi out of a deep hole with a stand of 98 for the sixth wicket.
Railways will meet last year's runners-up Bengal in the quarter-finals on Sunday.
Scorecard
Delhi:
Gautam Gambhir c Bangar b Harvinder Singh 5
Mithun Manhas c Wankhede b Jai Prakash Yadav 15
Rajan Gupta c Wankhede b Harvinder Singh 1
Mayank Tehlan lbw Jai Prakash Yadav 3
Varun Kumar b Harvinder Singh 0
Ajay Jadeja c Pagnis b Harvinder Singh 98
Rajat Bhatia b Shankar Rao 46
Chetanya Nanda c and b Madan Yadav 9
Amit Bhandari not out 18
Extras: (b-4, lb-4, nb-5, w-5) 18
Total: (for 8 wkts in 50 overs) 213
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-23, 3-26, 4-27, 5-27, 6-125, 7-171, 8-213
Bowling: Jai Prakash Yadav 9-2-34-2, Harvinder Singh 10-1-37-4, Bangar 6-0-30-0, Madan Yadav 10-0-39-1, Shankar Rao 10-0-42-1, Parida 5-0-23-0.
Railways:
G Shankar Rao b Bhandari 18
Amit Pagnis c Bhandari b Sachdeva 20
Tej Pal Singh c Varun Kumar b Gill 7
Jai Prakash Yadav c (sub) Khurana b Nanda 60
Sanjay Bangar c Manhas b Bhandari 55
Raja Ali not out 30
Shreyas Khanolkar not out 4
Extras: (b-3, lb-3, nb-10, w-6) 22
Total: (for 5 wkts, in 41.1 overs) 216
Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-52, 3-68, 4-174, 5-202
Bowling: Bhandari 10-3-33-2, Gill 10-1-42-1, Sachdeva 7-0-67-1, Bhatia 3-0-7-0, Nanda 10-1-47-0, Jadeja 1-0-10-0, Gambhir 0.1-0-4-0.