There were many relieved faces in the Railways dressing room as they ended the day's play needing a single run to take the crucial first innings lead over Andhra. Though they finished on 208 for 8, the hosts were almost embarrassed by a disciplined Andhra side that never gave away anything to the opposition.

Railways went into a hole after P Vijaykumar struck twice early to remove Milind Tamhane and Karan Sharma in the first half hour of play. Had it not for fighting knocks by vice-captain Sanjib Sanyal (70) and later on by Raja Ali (39), they were looking down the barrel in the second session itself. There were quite a few bad shots, but Harshad Rawle’s dismissal can be said to be the worst of all.

After seeing off the new ball, Rawle ventured out of his crease and a waiting Manoj Sai removed the bails. Later, an ugly mix-up between Mahesh Rawat and Sanyal saw both running at the bowler's end. And Rawat beat Sanyal to the crease as the keeper removed the bails at the other end.

At one point, they were seven down, still needing 49 runs to overhaul Andhra's score.

Brief Scores: Andhra 208; Railways 208 for 8 in 100 overs (Sanjib Sanyal 70, Raja Ali 39, P Vijaykumar 2/59, M Suresh 2/58).