Ranji semis: Maharashtra closes in on Tamil Nadu

February 28, 2015 10:24 pm | Updated 10:24 pm IST - KOLKATA:

Rock solid: Swapnil Gugale and Chirag Khurana (left) stitched a 270-run partnership for the second wicket to bring Maharashtra in sight of Tamil Nadu's total.

Rock solid: Swapnil Gugale and Chirag Khurana (left) stitched a 270-run partnership for the second wicket to bring Maharashtra in sight of Tamil Nadu's total.

Swapnil Gugale and Chirag Khurana stitched together a prodigious 270-run partnership for the second wicket to bring Maharashtra in sight of the summit of the mammoth total posted by Tamil Nadu. The fourth day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal here at the Eden Gardens on Saturday saw Maharashtra reach 394 for five at stumps and remain adrift by 155 runs to the Tamil Nadu first innings score.

Gugale found the perfect ally in Khurana as the two took up the yoke of the Maharashtra innings and pulled it a long distance with a fine show of temperament and the technical efficiency. Gugale and Khurana continued where they had left off in the previous day. Playing the lead, 23-year-old Gugale timed his shots to perfection as Tamil Nadu looked at the experience of its pacers L. Balaji and P. Prasanth to break the partnership.

Unlike the sluggish approach adopted by the overtly cautious Tamil Nadu batsmen, who managed a low strike rate, the Maharashtra pair stroked freely and played an array of delightful shots all across the ground. Gugale, who was unbeaten on 56 in the third day, showed a better technical accomplishment and reached his second First Class century consuming 177 balls and hitting 20 boundaries within one and half hours after the start of play. By Lunch Maharashtra was comfortably placed at 229 for one.

With Gugale showing the way, Khurana matched his companion’s strike-rate. Though a bit less assertive in finding the boundaries, the 22-year-old batsman played the perfect foil to his senior partner with some good running between the wickets and reached his fourth First Class century in 180 balls with 11 hits to the fence. The partnership grew in stature while giving Maharashtra the confidence of overhauling the mountain of runs set up by Tamil Nadu. In the process Gugale completed his 150 (274b, 27x4) and looked poised for a double but fatigue seemed to get the better of him as he mistimed a pull and was caught by L. Balaji in the deep midwicket off Aparajith.

Gugale’s departure at the score of 290 ended a brilliant partnership of 270 runs (469 balls) and unsettled the rhythm as Maharashtra saw a couple of dismissals of Rahul Tripathi (2) and Khurana, who fell after scoring 125 (241b, 13x4). Ankit Bawane (47 batting) re-initiated the consolidation process and carried the Maharashtra innings forward to the final day and kept alive the team’s hopes of reaching the final.

Dinesh Karthik fined

Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik was fined 40 per cent of his match fee for showing dissent at umpires’ decisions during the fourth day’s play. Match referee Sunil Chaturvedi found the player guilty and charged him for a Level 1 (2.1.3) offence. 

The scores:

Tamil Nadu – 1st innings: 549.

Maharashtra – 1st innings: Swapnil Gugale c Balaji b Aparajith 154, Harshad Khadiwale b Balaji 14, Chirag Khurana c Karthik b Crist 125, Rahul Tripathi lbw b Crist 2, Ankit Bawne (batting) 47, Kedar Jadhav c Prasanth b Malolan 26, Rohit Motwani (batting) 4. Extras (b-4, lb-14, w-2, nb-2): 22; Total (for five wickets in 118 overs) 394.

Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-290, 3-299, 4-330, 5-375.

Tamil Nadu bowling: P. Prasanth 25-4-74-0, L. Balaji 24-2-82-1, Aswin Crist 27-7-80-2, Vijay Shankar 14-4-34-0, Malolan Rangarajan 22-4-81-1, Abhinav Mukund 2-0-10-0, B. Aparajith 4-0-15-1.

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