A late-order fightback saw Punjab ensure two points for their first innings lead against Railways on Thursday in the Ranji Trophy 'Elite' Group 'A' match which is heading for a draw.
Punjab, who were struggling at 196 for six at one stage while replying to Railways' first innings score of 390, rallied superbly with half centuries from Ankur Kakkar (batting 82) and Gagandeep Singh (50), besides a fighting 45 by Amit Uniyal, to finish the third day at 395 for eight.
Punjab also survived some anxious moments when Gagandeep was run out by Shreyas Khanolkar with the score reading 385 for eight. But Navdeep Singh (batting one) stood firm for 20 minutes to help the side take the first innings lead.
With just a day's play left and the second innings yet to begin, a result is unlikely at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi, and Punjab can go home with two more points and take their tally to six.
Railways, a strong contender for a semi-final berth from the group along with defending champions Mumbai, will remain on 10 points.
Railways were left to blame themselves for allowing the visitors to run away with the first innings lead as they dropped an easy catch of innings top-scorer Kakkar when the batsman was on 29.
Four runs after Uniyal's dismissal on 281, J P Yadav floored an edge off captain Sanjay Bangar's bowling in the slips which allowed Kakkar to pull the side out of the crisis with a 104-run partnership with Gagandeep for the eighth wicket.
Earlier, resuming at overnight score of 157 for three, Punjab found themselves in a spot as both Retinder Singh Sodhi (31) and Pankaj Dharmani (43) departed in quick succession.
The duo added 56 runs for the fourth wicket to take the score to 191 before Sodhi was trapped leg before by Yadav in the 68th over of the innings.
A couple of over later, Dharmani followed his partner back to the pavilion after he was snapped by Bangar off the same bowler.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Chandan Madan failed to open his account -- being given leg before to Yadav -- as Punjab slumped from 191 for three to 196 for six in no time.
But Kakkar and Uniyal added 85 runs for the seventh wicket to stem the rot much to the frustration of the home side, which employed as many as eight bowlers to separate the pair.
Railways finally got the breakthrough when Uniyal was caught by Yadav at point off Harvinder Singh but by then the duo had laid the foundation of a great rescue act.
Kakkar stayed at the crease close to five hours and faced 242 balls for his knock, which contained eight hits to the fence.
For the home side, Yadav was the most successful bowler, returning with figures of three for 57. Harvinder Singh also got a couple of wickets, giving away 65 runs.
A marathon bowling spell of 51 overs by off-spinner Kulamani Parida yielded too little result as he failed to add to his overnight scalp of Dinesh Mongia.
Scoreboard
Railways (1st innings): 390
Punjab (1st innings):
R Ricky lbw Harvinder 2
Yuvraj Singh c and b Khanolkar 80
D Mongia c Khanolkar b Parida 33
P Dharmani c Bangar b Yadav 43
Retinder Sodhi lbw Yadav 31
Ankur Kakkar batting 82
Chandan Madan lbw Yadav 0
Amit Uniyal c Yadav b Harvinder 45
Gagandeep Singh run out 50
Navdeep Singh batting 1
Extras: (b-13, lb-11, w-3, nb-1) 28
Total: (for 8 wkts, 146 overs) 395
Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-105, 3-135, 4-191, 5-194, 6-196, 7-281, 8-385.
Bowling: Harvinder Singh 25-8-65-2, J P Yadav 17-6-57-3, Bangar 17-7-51-0, Parida 51-14-107-1, Khanolkar 29-8-68-1, Goud 5-0-16-0, Siddharth Verma 1-0-5-0, T P Singh 1-0-2-0.
