da dobrowin： Central Zone kicked off its Ranji season on Saturday with UttarPradesh playing Railways at Delhi and Vidarbha facing off againstRajasthan at Jaipur
Staff Reporter22-Oct-2001Central Zone kicked off its Ranji season on Saturday with UttarPradesh playing Railways at Delhi and Vidarbha facing off againstRajasthan at Jaipur. Uttar Pradesh, winning the toss at the KarnailSingh Stadium, elected to bat, but failed to capitalise on thedecision. No partnerships of appreciable weight were built up, andRailways always seemed to take wickets at opportune moments.The destroyer-in-chief, Murali Kartik, returned innings figures of35-15-67-4, taking wickets up and down the order. For Uttar Pradesh,the top scorers were Nikhil Chopra (49*) and Mohammad Kaif (43). Withother players chipping in, Uttar Pradesh were bowled out for 237 inexactly 100 overs.Railways found itself two wickets down with little on the board, butAmit Pagnis and Yere Goud mended the breach. Goud, in particular,played with remarkable patience, dispatching the loose balls andbuilding his innings with great care. At the close of Day Two, Goudwas unbeaten on 92, with 11 fours and a six; Railways, at the time,was 199 for six.At Jaipur’s KL Saini Ground, Vidarbha opted to bat after winning thetoss. Its openers made the most of the advantage by posting a 112-runfirst-wicket stand before Amit Deshpande perished for a well-made 56.His partner, Pinnannany Vivek, stuck around for another 24 oversbefore departing for 78. His loss sparked off a mini-collapse, andonly Samir Khare’s late-order 68 helped Vidarbha reach a total of 350in 127.5 overs. Mohammad Aslam picked up four wickets for Rajasthan.The home side’s openers, faced with a sizeable first-innings total,went about their job with panache. Vineet Saxena, the more sedate ofthe two, had, at the close of Day Two, sauntered along to 64 off 151balls; his companion, former Indian one-day player Gagan Khoda, hadscored 92 off 182 balls, with 10 fours and one six, when play ended.