Ranji Trophy: Railways pull off record chase against Tripura in see-saw encounter in Agartala

In one of the most extraordinary finishes to a match in Ranji Trophy history, Railways ended up pulling off the highest successful chase in the history of India’s premier domestic competition to defeat Tripura and sign off from the 2023-24 season on a high.

The Elite Group C meeting between the two sides at Agartala’s Maharaja Bir Bikram College Stadium was every bit a roller coaster ride with Tripura getting bundled out for 149 after being invited to bat by Railways, only to walk away with a handy first innings lead after bowling their opponents out for 105.

Tripura then appeared set for a big victory after bouncing back from their collapse in the first innings to post 333 on the board, riding on half-centuries from Sudip Chatterjee (95) and Ganesh Satish (62) and setting Railways a daunting target of 378.

Railways were then staring at a certain defeat, possibly a repeat of their flop show in the first innings, after getting reduced to 31/3 with three of their top four departing for single-digit scores. Pratham Singh (169 not out), however, turned things around in style by forging partnerships worth 175 and 118 with Mohammad Saif (106) and Arindam Ghosh (40) respectively. Pratham would remain unbeaten till the very end, getting his team over the line with skipper Upendra Yadav later chipping in with an unbeaten 27 off 36 deliveries to further take the game away from the home team.

Thanks to the extraordinary turn of events, Railways ended up breaking the record for the highest successful chase in the history of the competition — 372, which Saurashtra had achieved against Uttar Pradesh in the 2018-19 season, with Harvik Desai’s 116 during the chase propelling the Jaydev Unadkat-led side into the semi-finals that year.

Despite the remarkable victory however, Railways are set to miss out on the quarter-finals this year as they finished at the third spot with 24 points from seven matches, with Tamil Nadu and Gujarat currently occupying the top two spots in Group C. As a result of the defeat, Tripura finish fifth in the group with 17 points.