Paras Dogra and Pavan Deshpande racked up half-centuries as Pondicherry secured a draw against Railways in its second Group C match at the IC Guru Nanak College ground in Chennai on Sunday.
After declaring on its overnight lead of 183, Railways failed to bowl out Pondicherry after a solid partnership between Dogra and Deshpande meant the opposition was forced out from its fight for an outright win. However, Railways took three points on the back of its first-innings lead while Pondicherry settled for a point - leaving both teams largely out of contention for the top spot in the group.
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Interestingly, Railways began the day with seamer Amit Mishra from one end and left-arm spinner Akash Pandey complementing him from the other. Pondicherry openers Neyan Kangayan and Aravind K were left unscathed in the first hour with the in-form pacer Yuvraj Singh kept away by skipper Karn Sharma.
Pandey had a rare chance in his spell as he fired in an arm-ball that hit Aravind’s pads but the ball slid down the leg-stump. The openers dropped anchor to consume 121 balls before Yuvraj returned to continue his fine run - packing both Neyan and Aravind in successive overs. Mishra then came up with a sharper second spell to remove S. Karthik for 23 as Pondicherry slipped to 88 for three in its race to clear the deficit.
Level-headed
With Railways smelling a chance to run through the order, Pondicherry turned back to its star batter Dogra, who proved his mettle again. Dogra joined hands with the left-handed Deshpande to build a rearguard effort that dimmed Railways’ ambitions of an outright win.
Barring the odd slip against leg-spinner Karn Sharma, who foxed Dogra in flight and nearly had him stumped, the unbeaten 120-run partnership offered Railways no more opportunities. They got to their individual half-centuries and Dogra seemed well on course for his second hundred of the match before the players shook hands mid-way through the second session.
Railways will now face Jammu and Kashmir while Pondicherry meets Karnataka in their round three matches from Thursday.
Scorecard:
Railways — 2nd innings: 525 for nine
Pondicherry — 2nd innings: Neyan Kangayan c Pandey b Yuvraj 26, Aravind K c Devdhar b Yuvraj 27, S Karthik c Yadav b Mishra 17, Paras Dogra not out 64, Pavan Deshpande not out 59; Extras ( b 13, lb 0, w 2, nb 0 ); 15
Total (for three wkts in 62 overs): 208
Railways bowling: Mishra 9-4-21-1, Pandey 13-3-33-0, Sharma 9-0-38-0, Yuvraj 12-3-26-2, Karn 12-1-43-0, Shivam 7-1-34-0.
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