da doce： Both Central Zone Ranji ties ended in draws on Tuesday, with Railwaysand Madhya Pradesh picking up five points each by virtue of theirfirst-innings totals
Staff Reporter31-Oct-2001Both Central Zone Ranji ties ended in draws on Tuesday, with Railwaysand Madhya Pradesh picking up five points each by virtue of theirfirst-innings totals.Railways, playing for an outright win against Rajasthan at Delhi, werethwarted by a gritty middle-order performance from their rivals.Although they were, at one stage, 85/3, Rajasthan rallied to cling onuntil the end of play. Pudiyangum Krishnakumar, captain of the battingside, was the top scorer, making a slow unbeaten 50 off 180 balls andspending just over four hours at the crease.Krishnakumar was supported by Rahul Kanwat and Nikhil Doru, who eachmade 38. Wicket-keeper Rohit Jhalani also contributed an unbeaten 28,made off 122 balls. Rajasthan ended at 219/6, gaining three pointswhere there could have been none.In Indore, Madhya Pradesh, overnight on 185/6, declared their inningsat 280/7. Nikhil Patwardhan and Manish Majithia made fifties, enablingtheir team to set Uttar Pradesh a seemingly disheartening target of358 runs.Uttar Pradesh, however, started in fine style; Jyoti P Yadav and NasirAli posted a 50-run first wicket partnership off 80 balls in 57minutes. When Ali was dismissed for 41, 87 runs had been put on in 96minutes and Uttar Pradesh gave every appearance of actually gunningfor the target.The dismissal of Mohammad Kaif, however, slowed the innings down and,although Rizwan Shamshad (69) and Yadav posted a 100-run partnershipoff 137 balls in just 84 minutes, the target was ultimately too steep.Shamshad and skipper Gyanendra Pandey got out in quick succession and,although Yadav completed his century (176 balls, 13 fours), UttarPradesh fell well short of the target, managing only 244.