Chennai: Tamil Nadu defeated Maharashtra by 104 runs in a Group B Ranji Trophy match being played at M.A Chidambaram Stadium here on Tuesday.
The home team needed only two wickets on the final day with Maharashtra reeling at 75-8 at the start of the day. Needing 118 more runs to win Maharashtra could only manage to add 13 runs to their overnight total before they were bowled out.
18 wickets fell on the dramatic third day and after the hosts were bundled out for a paltry score, they fought back well and are now two wickets away from an outright win.
A lot more was expected from the Maharashtra batsmen even though the pitch was not the easiest to bat on. But they lost their first wicket in the first over after Laxmipathy Balaji had Satyajit Bacchav caught him off his own bowling. Balaji struck again in his next over to send Chirag Khurana back to the pavilion.
With two wickets down, opener Harshad Khadiwale and Dilip Atitkar tried to stitch a partnership for the third wicket, but their resistance was cut short by Yo Mahesh after he castled Khadiwale for 13.
Their batting collapsed like nine pins and no one could take the attack to the Tamil Nadu bowlers.
Ankit Bawne on 18 and Akshay Darekar on 6 were the unbeaten batsmen at stumps and will start the day hoping for a miraculous recovery.
Balaji, Aushik Srinivas, Malolan Rangarajan and Yo Mahesh picked up two wickets apiece for the hosts.
Brief Score:
Tamil Nadu 276 (Mahesh 81, Prasanna 56, Rangarajan 53, Mundhe 4-38) &149 (Khurana 4-27, Darekar 4-61)
Maharashtra 233 (Mundhe 61, Balaji 4-28, Rangarajan 4-55) & 88
By Indian Sports News Network