HP beat Railways to enter Ranji Plate final, elite division

Dharamshala, Jan 14 (UNI) Himachal Pradesh qualified for next season's Ranji Super League as they reached the final of the Plate Group after comfortably beating Railways by seven wickets here today.

Orissa had earlier reached the final beating Asom by seven wickets at Cuttack yesterday to secure a berth for the Super League.

The hosts easily overhauled the victory target of 137 today though losing three wickets in 57 overs with M Gupta 69 (not out) and Sangram Singh (not out 59) hitting half centuries.

Gupta's 69 came from 163 balls with the help of six fours while Sangram batted aggressively, hitting six fours and three sixes in his 59.

Murali Kartik and JP Yadav cliamed the wickets of P Dogra and Sandeep Sharma respectively while Barun Sharma was run out.

Earlier, Himachal Pradesh needed just four overs to bundle out Railways for 269.

Resuming at 259 for eight, overnight unbeaten Railway batsman R Kundu could add just two runs to his kitty before departing in the third over of the morning off the bowling of Vishal Bhatia.

Sarandeep Singh then had number 11 SR Saxena in the next over to end Railway second innings at 265. S Sanyal remained not out at 113.

Brief Scores: Railways 1st innings: 229 all out in 98 overs (TP Singh 54, Sanjib Sanyal 52, Vishal Bhatia 6/57) Himachal Pradesh 1st innings: 362 all out in 185.1 overs (Sandeep Sharma 161, Mukesh Sharma 51, Sanjay Bangar 4/43) Railways 2nd innings: 269 all out in 82.5 overs (Sanjib Sanyal 113 not out, TP Singh 36, Sarandeep Singh 5/70 VS Malik 3/62) Himachal Pradesh 2nd innings: 142 for three in 56.3 overs (M Gupta 61 not out, Sangram Singh 59 not out) UNI XC PDS RN1825