HP 151 for 3, trail Railways by 78 runs on day two

Dharamshala, Jan 11 (UNI) Skipper Sandeep Sharma struck an unbeaten 68 as Himachal Pradesh crawled at a snail's pace to 151 for three, in reply to Railways' first innings total of 229, in the first semifinal of the Ranji Trophy Plate League at the HPCA Stadium here today.

The hosts still trail by 78 runs with seven wickets remaining in the first innings.

Earlier today, Sanjiv Sanyal (52 not out) and Santosh Saxena (11) added another 22 runs for the last wicket to their overnight score before the latter fell and Railways innings folded for 229. It was Himachal's left-arm spinner Vishal Bhatia who derailed Railways with his figure of 30-8-57-6.

Manish Gupta (18) and Sandeep gave the hosts a sedate start before Sanjay Bangar castled the former. Himachal also lost the wickets of Paras Dogra (25) and Sangram Singh (6) before Barun Sharma joined his skipper to ensure there was no more upset.

Sandeep's unbeaten knock of 68 was product of five hours and 20 minute of grafting, during which he faced 255 balls and hit nine fours.

Railways skipper Bangar used as many as seven bowlers but had little success.

Brief score: Railways 1st innings: 229 all out in 98 overs (TP Singh 54, Sanjib Sanyal 52, Vishal Bhatia 6/57) Himachal Pradesh 1st innings: 151 for 3 in 84 overs (Sandeep Sharma 68 not out, Paras Dogra 25) UNI