Tejinder Pal Singh batted Railways to a position of strength with a majestic ton in the Elite 'A' Ranji Trophy match against Punjab at New Delhi on Tuesday.
Tejinder Pal's 168 and his second wicket partnership of 201 with captain Sanjay Bangar (79) helped the side pile on 311 for four on the opening day of the four-day match at the Karnail Singh Stadium, New Delhi.
Electing to bat, the home side scored runs at a brisk pace taking advantage of some butter-fingered display by Punjab fielders although the bowlers toiled hard for wickets on the placid track.
As many as three chances, including two of Tejinder Pal, went a begging with Pankaj Dharmani being the culprit on a couple of occasions.
The otherwise agile Yuvraj Singh also dropped the centurion once in the slip as a resurgent Railways side, fresh from back-to-back wins, piled on the misery on their hapless opposition.
Punjab could have been in a more precarious position as at one stage the hosts were sitting pretty at 294 for two. But two wickets at the fag end of the third session gave the visitors some reason to cheer about.
After the cheap dismissal of Amit Pagnis (10) early in the morning, Bangar and Tejinder Pal added 201 for the second wicket with the captain playing with caution and the latter showing contempt to the opposition bowlers.
When Bangar was out, trapped leg before to left-arm spinner Navdeep Singh, Railways were 219 for two.
Bangar's knock contained 13 fours and one six and it came off 199 balls.
The captain's dismissal failed to stop the run flow as J P Yadav, who scored a match-winning 101 against Delhi in the last game, joined Tejinder Pal in the middle and the two further pounded the bowling attack.
After taking Railways to a healthy position, Tejinder Pal departed, giving a catch to Dinesh Mongia in the first slip off Gagandeep Singh. His 168 came off 207 balls with the help
of 21 sweetly timed fours. He also smashed three towering sixes.
The dismissal prompted Punjab to take the new ball which paid immediate dividends as Yere Goud, who was in next, chased a wide ball from Amit Uniyal in the final over of the day to offer a regulation catch to wicketkeeper Chandan Madan.
At close, Yadav was batting on 41.
Gagandeep Sigh, Uniyal, Navdeep Singh and Retinder Singh Sodhi shared the wickets between them though Uniyal was most unfortunate of the lot as he induced three edges from the batsmen only to see them all floored by the slip fielders.
Scorecard
Railways 1st innings:
A Pagnis c Chandan Mohan b Sodhi 10
S Bangar lbw b Navdeep Singh 79
T P Singh C Mongia b Gagandeep 168
J P Yadav batting 41
Y Goud c Chandan Mohan b Uniyal 5
Extras (b-1, lb-1, nb-5, w-1) 8
Total (for 4 wkts, 89.3 overs) 311
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-219, 3-294, 4-311.
Bowling: Gagandeep 19-2-40-1, Uniyal 21.3-4-94-1, Sodhi 12-2-55-1, Navdeep 21-8-47-1, Rajesh Sharma 12-0-52-0, Mongia 4-0-21-0.
