Sanyal wages lone battle, Railways 259 for 8 against HP

Dharamshala, Jan 13 (UNI) Railways' hopes of a Super League promotion seems a distant dream and it was Sanjib Sanyal's unbeaten ton that rescued the visitors, who reached 259 for eight in their second essay against Himachal Pradesh on the penultimate day of the Ranji Trophy Plate League semifinal match here today.

Railways lead by 126 runs with two wickets remaining and Sanyal (106) was joined by Ritam Kundu (12) in the middle.

Earlier today, Himachal resumed their first innings at 346 for seven and could add only 16 runs before their innings folded.

In their second innings as well, Railways put up a lucklustre show, barring the exception of in-form Sanyal and TP Singh.

Himachal pacer Vikramjeet Singh Malik removed openers Sanjay Bangar (5) and Amit Pagnis (18) in quick successions to push Railways to the back foot and it was 64-run fourth wicket partnership between TP Singh and Sanyal which steadied the Railways innings.

But once Vishal Bhatia removed TP, another batting collapse followed even though Sanyan stood tall amid ruin.

At stumps, Sanyal was batting on 106 after spending four hours in the middle and facing 204 balls. His sparkling ton was studded with nine boundaries and a six.

For the hosts, Sarandeep Singh was the most successful bowler, claiming four for 62, while Malik finished with three for 62.

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 116, Mukesh Sharma 51 n.o. not out 44) Railways 2nd innings: 259 for 8 (Sanjib Sanyal 106 n.o, TP Singh 36, Sarandeep Singh 4/62 VS Malik 3/62) UNI