Defending champions Mumbai closed in on an outright win despite fine hundreds by Maharashtra skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and seasoned middle-order batter Ankit Bawne on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Group A match on Sunday. Maharashtra were all out for 388 in their second innings, leaving Mumbai with a victory target of 74 with a full day’s play left in the game. At 13 for no loss at stumps, Mumbai were just 61 away from victory with openers Prithvi Shaw and Ayush Mhatre batting on 7 and 6 respectively.
Bawne struck a terrific hundred (101 off 152 balls) after Gaikwad responded with a century of his own after his first-innings failure but these efforts were not enough to make up for their forgettable outing with the bat on the opening day when the visiting side was bundled out for 126.
Star player Gaikwad, who was out for a two-ball duck in the first essay in a team total of 126, led Maharashtra’s charge with a 145-run knock that came off 171 balls, while Bawne, who made his debut way back in 2007 as a 15-year-old, also shone after missing out in the last outing.
Bawne, who hit 10 fours during his knock, however gave away his wicket to Shams Mulani right after reaching the three-figure mark.
Resuming on 80, Gaikwad began the third day of the match in stunning fashion as he hooked Shardul Thakur’s short ball for a six over deep square leg. Two fielders were positioned in the deep but Gaikwad still went ahead with the shot, and succeeded.
Along with his overnight partner Sachin Dhas (98 off 208 balls), who got a golden duck in the first innings, Gaikwad added 222 runs for the second wicket, 141 of which came on the second day.
Playing in only his third first-class match, Dhas missed out on what would have been a well-deserved hundred by two runs.
Mumbai needed to break the partnership and they succeeded, but they got their biggest breakthrough when left-arm spinner Shams Mulani got the prized scalp of Gaikwad with a delivery that pitched around leg-stump, turned and took an edge on way to Ajinkya Rahane in the slip.
Gaikwad struck 16 fours and two sixes during his monumental effort.
With both Dhas and Gaikwad back in the dressing room, Ankit Bawne took it upon himself to help Maharashtra erase their deficit with a half century.
This was after off-spinner Tanush Kotian picked up three wickets including two in an over to leave Maharashtra at 295 for six. Credit should also go to Suryakumar Yadav for the wicket of Arshin Kulkarni, as India’s T20 captain pulled off an excellent one-handed catch.
Earlier, the start of the day’s play was delayed due to wet outfield.
Brief scores: Maharashtra: 126 and 388 all out in 106.3 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 145, Ankit Bawne 101, Sachin Dhas 98; Tanush Kotian 3/74, Mohit Avasthi 3/65, Shams Mulani 3/155).
Mumbai: 441 and 13 for no loss in 1.2 overs.
Shillong: Tripura 1st innings: 377/8 declared in 78.4 overs (Sridam Paul 146, Srinivas Sharath 72, Manisankar Murasingh 60, Mandeep Singh 59; Meghalaya: 222 (Ajay Duhan 93; Manisankar Murasingh 6/52) and 3/0 in 2 overs
Cuttack: Jammu and Kashmir: 270 and 195/4 in 59 overs (Abdul Samad 70) Odisha: 272 all out in 87.5 overs (Govinda Poddar not out 133; Abid Mushtaq 4/84, Umar Nazir Mir 3/33)
Delhi: Baroda: 477/6 declared and 134/1 declared Services: 271 all out in 86.3 overs (Ravi Chauhan 68, Rajat Paliwal 62, Arjun Sharma 54; Atit Sheth 3/33, Mahesh Pithiya 3/67) and 3/0 in 3 overs.
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