Shukla saves day for Railways with unbeaten ton

Opener Shivakant Shukla (117) struck his seventh first class hundred and shared an unbeaten 124-run stand with Ashish Yadav (65) to lead Railways to 257 for five against Punjab on the opening day of their Group A Ranji Trophy match, here today.
Punjab, after electing to bowl, put Railways under tremendous pressure by reducing them to 76 for four but Shukla raised two crucial stands with his team-mates to save the day for his side.
Shukla, who last played a first class match in April 2014, added 57 runs for the fifth wicket with Mahesh Rawat (35) before combining with Yadav to end the day on a high.

Punjab paceman Manpreet Gony had Railways opener Saurabh Wakaskar caught for a duck by Yuvraj Singh in the fourth over of the day.
Siddharth Kaul (2/53) then removed Akshat R Pandey (3) and V Cheluvaraj (18) to make inroads into the Railways middle order.
Left-arm spinner Vinay Choudhary saw the back of Arindam Ghosh (11) to leave Railways reeling at 76 for 4.

Shukla though kept batting solid from one end and repaired the innings with Rawat and Yadav.
His 117 came off 291 balls with 11 fours and two sixes while Yadav took 94 balls for his 65, which had six shots to the ropes and one over it.

Brief Scores:
Railways 1st innings: 257 for 5 in 90 overs.(S Shukla 117 batting, A Yadav 65 batting, M Rawat 35; S Kaul 2/53).