da fazobetai： Batting virtually through the final day, Yere Goud (221 not out) andRailways skipper Abhay Sharma (188) made it a non contest of the RanjiTrophy pre-quarter-final match against Maharashtra at the Poona Club groundin Poona on Wednesday
Staff Reporter14-Mar-2001Batting virtually through the final day, Yere Goud (221 not out) andRailways skipper Abhay Sharma (188) made it a non contest of the RanjiTrophy pre-quarter-final match against Maharashtra at the Poona Club groundin Poona on Wednesday. Though the match meandered to a draw, Railwaysentered the quarter-final due to their 123-run first innings lead theysecured on the third day of the match. Railways now meet six time championsKarnataka, who defeated Assam by seven wickets, in the quarters.Resuming at 314/4, Railways overnight batsmen Yere Goud and Abhay Sharmajust destroyed the Maharashtra bowling into submission. The inseperablepair, batting with dour resilience, ran up a 324-run fourth wicketpartnership concretising Railways’ entry into the next stage. So much wastheir dominance that the hapless Maharashtra skipper, Hrishikesh Kanitkar,was prompted to use the services of his whole team.Abhay Sharma was the only batsman to be dismissed, when Kondhalkar finallybowled him in the 186th over of the innings. During a five-hour stay at thecrease, Abhay faced 241 balls and hit 19 boundaries. Thereafter Goud and SNKhanolkar (17) played out the rest of the overs. Goud who remained unbeatenat the end manned the crease for 532 minutes and faced 400 balls whilehitting 21 boundaries and twice clearing it.