Bangar, Upadhyay demolish UP as Railways eye innings victory

Ghaziabad: Railways skipper Sanjay Bangar and rookie seamer Krishna Kant Upadhyay`s controlled swing bowling saw a much vaunted Uttar Pradesh being shot out for 79 on the second day of the Elite Group match of the Ranji Trophy at the Mohan Meakins ground.

The Railways scored a decent 374 in their first innings and then skittled out their opponents in only 40.4 overs to ensure a huge 295-run first innings lead and enforcing the follow-on. Bangar (5/20) and Upadhyay (4/37) bowled a fantastic line and also swung the ball to make life difficult for the UP batsmen. The home team were 18 for one in their second innings requiring 277 runs to avoid an innings defeat. Starting the day on 282 for five, Railways courtesy Mahesh Rawat (34, 6x4) and No 10 Upadhyay (31, 5x4) reached a respectable 374 with RP Singh (3/78) and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar (3/76) being the most successful bowlers. The pitch didn`t have any demons but what Railways bowlers did was to bowl a fuller length and made the opposition batsmen play their deliveries. In-form seamer Upadhyay, who got 10-wickets against Punjab in the last match, got one to swing away as Zahid Ali (1) nicked it to Rawat behind the stumps. Tanmay Srivastava (2) failed to cover Upadhyay`s swing and saw his stumps uprooted. Prashant Gupta (30) and India discard Mohammed Kaif (9) batted for 16 overs but never did the duo looked comfortable. The Railwaymen kept a tight leash on the batsmen and Kaif was the third batsman to get out adjudged caught behind off JP Yadav when the ball looked to have brushed the thigh pads. At tea, Railways were 46 for five with Arish Alam (1) and the dependable Parvinder Singh (0) were back in the hut. Parvinder especially slashed at an away-going delivery from Upadhyay as Shivakant Shukla took a stunning one handed catch at second slip. If Upadhyay did the major work, Bangar complemented him well as he polished off the lower-order without much difficulty as most of the batsmen played irresponsible shots. Srivastava`s (0) nightmare continued as Upadhyay trapped the former India U-19 opener leg before with a ball that came in as he stayed rooted in his crease. Brief Scores: Railways 374 (Nitin Bille 123, Shivakant Shukla 98, KK Upadhyay 31, RP Singh 3/78, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar 3/76) UP 79 (Sanjay Bangar 5/20, KK Upadhyay 4/37) & fo 18/1 (Upadhyay 1/4). PTI