HP crawl to 346 for 7, lead Railways by 117 runs on day three

Dharamshala, Jan 12 (UNI) Skipper Sandeep Sharma (161) grafted an agonisingly slow hundred as Himachal Pradesh crawled to 346 for seven in reply to Railways' first innings total of 229 on the third day of the first semifinal of the Ranji Trophy Plate League here today.

Resuming at their overnight score of 1521 for three, the hosts have now taken a crucial 117-run lead with three first innings wickets intact.

Sharma was finally out caught by Naidu off the bowling of Sanjay Bangar and his 161 consumed 521 balls. He stayed for 655 minutes at the crease and hit 21 fours and two sixes.

The other overnight batsman Barun Sharma (37) added 19 to his personal score and was the first to be out today when he was trapped by Sanyal.

A Mannu was run out while Murali Kartik claimed Vishal Bhatia, the day's third wicket.

Mukesh Sharma (44) and Sarandeep Singh (1) were at the crease at the draw of stumps.

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: 346 for 7in 177 overs (Sandeep Sharma 116, Mukesh Sharma not out 44, Sanjay Bangar 2 for 34) UNI