Overnight batsman Praveen Kumar fell two short of a century as UP finished with 346 on board, RP Singh’s dramatic first spell saw Railways four wickets down with just 12 runs on the board before Yere Goud did the rescue act with an unbeaten half-century guiding the hosts to 118 for 5 at the end of the day — still 79 runs away from saving the follow-on.

While Praveen’s 98 kept the small gathering entertained — he added 47 of UP’s 71 in the first session on Sunday, before middling one straight to Sanjay Bangar at mid-off — the hosts’ dressing room matched the gloomy conditions outside.

Their top four fell cheaply yet again — in the seven overs before lunch, they completely succumbed to the new ball. RP Singh, working his way to another comeback after being dropped midway through the ODI series, took advantage of overcast conditions and pitched the ball up to get maximum swing.

He tasted immediate success with his third and fifth deliveries as Bangar and Harshad Rawle went back — the Railway skipper edged an angled delivery to wicket-keeper Amir Khan while Rawle failed to read an inswinger that took the leg stump for a walk.

Milind Tamhane miscued a pull to RP at fine leg off Bhuvnesh Kumar. Railways vice-captain Sanjib Sanyal followed off the penultimate ball of the session, struck clueless to another incoming delivery from RP that cleared his defence.

Rescue mission

Post lunch, RP continued to look incisive and Railways’ miseries mounted as Praveen Kumar asked a few questions from the other end as well. But Karan Sharma and Yere Goud survived during their 60-run stand until Piyush Chawla, who didn’t have the ball until the 27th over of the innings, struck in his fourth over with a delivery that turned just enough to brush past Karan’s outside edge and into the keeper’s gloves.

There were no further dismissals, and the final session, that witnessed frequent bad-light stoppages, belonged to the hosts. Yere Goud raised a calm 128-ball half-century, and along with Mahesh Rawat put on 40 runs for the unfinished sixth wicket stand, to raise hopes of a revival.

Brief scores: UP 346 in 117.4 overs (Praveen Kumar 98, Suresh Raina 66; Anureet Singh 3/86, Karan Sharma 3/73, Murali Kartik 3/60) vs Railways 118 for 5 in 52 overs (Yere Goud 50 batting; RP Singh 4/65)