Ramesh Powar's dogged bowling went in vain as Rest of India surrendered meekly in the second innings to leave Railways on the brink of victory in the Irani Cup cricket match in Delhi on Monday.

The off-spinner claimed seven wickets for 116 runs, his second career-best performance in first-class cricket, to keep Rest in the hunt. But the visitors' disastrous batting in the second innings undid his good work.

After Railways put up 311, the last two wickets eking out 54 runs, for a handy lead of 88 in the first innings, Rest capitulated and were all out for 137, at the Karnail Singh stadium.

Left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, who missed out on a maiden first-class hundred in the morning, picked three wickets for 28 runs, while offie Kulamani Parida grabbed 3 for 52 for a match haul of 7-113.

The Ranji Trophy champions now need only 50 runs to claim the coveted Cup for the second time in two seasons, having won it in 2003-04 at the same venue.

It was shoddy cricket from Rest, even after making allowance for their inexperience and the dicey nature of the pitch.

With national coach Greg Chappell and selection committee chairman Kiran More watching from the stands, the youngsters had all reason to put up their best but ended up marring their reputation.

Scorecard

Rest of India (1st innings): 223

Railways (1st innings):
A Pagnis c Parthiv Patel b Sreesanth 14
S Bangar lbw Powar 31
T P Singh c Parthiv Patel b Powar 19
J P Yadav b Sreesanth 1
R Ali c Gambhir b Powar 8
Y Goud not out 78
V Saxena c Gambhir b Powar 9
M Kartik c Bose b Powar 96
S Wankhede c Parthiv Patel b R P Singh 1
Harvinder Singh st Parthiv Patel b Powar 26
K Parida c Raina b Powar 0
Extras: (b-5, lb-14, nb-11, w-1) 21
Total: (all out in 125.5 overs) 311

Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-60, 3-61, 4-84, 5-90, 6-104, 7-255, 8-257, 9-297.

Bowling: Rudra Pratap Singh 24-5-59-1, Ranadeb Bose 16.4-9-30-0, Ramesh Powar 42.5-7-116-7, S Sreesanth 15.2-5-35-2, R Ramkumar 23-10-47-0, Y Venugopala Rao 4-0-12-0.

Rest of India (2nd innings):
D Jadhav c Wankhede b Yadav 42
G Gambhir lbw Harvinder Singh 5
S Raina c Saxena b Kartik 30
Y V Rao run out 17
N Patel c Kartik b Parida 13
P Patel c Bangar b Parida 1
R Powar c Kartik b Parida 1
S Sreesanth lbw b Kartik 3
R Ramkumar run out 17
R P Singh c Wankhede b Kartik 1
R Bose not out 0
Extras: (b-4, lb-3) 7
Total: (all out in 57.3 overs) 137

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-66, 3-98, 4-106, 5-109, 6-113, 7-117, 8-119, 9-125.

Bowling: Harvinder Singh 7-1-17-1, Jai Prakash Yadav 16-8-20-1, Murali Kartik 13.3-3-28-3, Sanjay Bangar 3-0-13-0, Kulamani Parida 18-6-52-3.