Anureet stars for Railways on rain-hit opening day

New Delhi: Medium-pacer Anureet Singh`s three-wicket haul gave Railways the upperhand as they reduced Saurashtra to 88 for 4 on the rain-truncated opening day of their second Group B Ranji Trophy match here on Thursday.

Only 46 overs of play was possible after Railways opted to bowl on winning the toss. The start of play was delayed for quite some while after morning showers left the outfield wet. And when play finally started, Railways took control immediately. Both the Saurashtra openers -- Sagar Jogiyani (6) and Chirag Pathak (12) -- were back in the pavillion with just 18 runs on the scorecard. The next two batsmen -- Bhushan Chouhan and Sheldon Jackson -- went back without disturbing the scorers and the team total read a rather miserable 24 for four in 13.4 overs. Aarpit Vasavada (44) and skipper Jaydev Shah (25) were trying to rebuild the innings when stumps were drawn for the day. Vasavada has so far struck three fours in his 109-ball knock. Anureet was wrecker-in-chief for the Railways with three scalps, including both the openers. Nine of the 18 overs he bowled today were maiden and he conceded merely 24 runs in a fine performance in overcast conditions. Brief Scores: Saurashtra 1st innings: 88/4 in 46 overs (Aarpit Vasavada 44 batting, Anureet Singh 3/24).