GUWAHATI, April 17 � Former champions NF Railway Sports Association (NFRSA) made a tremendous fightback in their inter district semifinal match against Guwahati.
After conceding a major first innings lead of 118 runs, NFRSA bowlers shoot out Guwahati for a paltry 126 in 60.1 overs in the second innings. Chasing a winning target of 245, NFRSA are sitting pretty with 51 without loss in the second knock.
On the second day of the four-day match at the Nehru Stadium here today, the railwaymen could add just 14 runs to their over night total of 69 for seven. NFRSA could bat for 27 overs as Sujay Tarafdar today took two wickets while Gokul Sharma took one.
In their second knock, inept batting by Guwahati batsmen put them in trouble. All the batsmen were in trouble from the initial stage against pace and spin alike. Rajib Kalita (26), Gokul Sharma (23) showed some courage but they also could not play a long innings. Gokul�s run out was a major setback for Guwahati which could be termed as the turning point of the innings.
Railway spinners � Tarjinder Singh, Sarupam Purkayastha and Parvez Aziz � were among the wickets while paceman Krishna Das was a cause of concern for Guwahati batsmen with his awkward bouncers and swings.
Now NFRSA are smelling an outright victory as they require 184 with two full days and all the ten wickets in their hands. Only a harakiri by their batsmen could let them down as opening partnership between Parvez Aziz (18) and Chandan Rawat (29) has already laid a solid foundation by scoring 51.
Brief scores: Guwahati 201 and 126 (Rajib Kalita 24, Gokul Sharma 23, Nishanta Bordoloi 18, Tarjinder Singh 3/22, Parvez Aziz 2/10, Sarupam Purkayastha 2/26, Sekharjyoti Barman 1/10, Krishna Das 1/30). NFR 83 and 51 for no loss ( Chandan 29, Parvez 18).
