Srinagar, Jan 3: The gritty unbeaten knock of 161 runs by Muhammad Saif powered Railways to 322/8 on the first day of the Ranji Trophy tournament match against J&K at Lalbhai Contractor Stadium, Surat on Tuesday.
While the rest of the Railway batters struggled against J&K bowlers, Muhammad Saif stood like a rock at another end to carry Railways innings. At the end of the first day’s play, Railways were on 322 for the loss of eight wickets. Saif was still batting in the middle on 161.
Earlier batting first, Railway’s top order was rattled by J&K pacers. Umar Nazir removed opener Shivan Choudhary on the second ball of the match with Railways yet to open their account on the scorecard. They lost the second wicket on a score of 14.
Umar Nazir removed Pratham Singh. After that Railways batting revolved mainly around Mohammad Saif who kept forming small stands with the batters at the other end. While the rest of the Railway’s batters couldn’t reach 40 run mark, Saif went on to score a brilliant hundred and ended the day with 161 runs individual score. The next best score in Railways innings was by Vivek Singh who scored 32. For J&K, Abid Mushtaq took three wickets while as Umar Nazir and Auqib Nabi took two wickets each. Mohammad Tahir who made his Ranji debut for J&K in the match took one wicket.
