Mumbai Cruise to Nine-wicket Win Over Maharashtra, Baroda Beat Services by 65 Runs

Defending champions Mumbai got their Ranji Trophy campaign back on track with an emphatic nine-wicket win over Maharashtra in their second Group A league game here on Monday, offsetting the heavy loss to Baroda in the opening game.

Needing 74 to win, Mumbai went into the final day at 13 for no loss.

While Ayush Mhatre’s (15) dismissal robbed them off a bonus point, Prithvi Shaw (39 not out off 36 balls) and Hardik Tamore (21 not out off 26 balls) earned six points for the team in just 13.3 overs.

This was after the 42-time champions lost to Baroda by 84 runs in the opening Ranji Trophy fixture but in the second match at the BKC ground, Mumbai excelled in all departments of the game.

The match was won and lost on the first day itself when Mumbai bowled out Maharashtra for 126 in their first innings and then rode on 17-year-old Mhatre’s smashing 176 and Shreyas Iyer’s belligerent 142 to score 441.

While Maharashtra fared much better in the second innings with centuries from Ruturaj Gaikwad and veteran Ankit Bawne, apart from a 98 from former India U-19 batter Sachin Dhas, the damage was already done.

In Delhi, young off-spinner Mahesh Pithiya returned a career-best match haul of 9/169, including six second-innings wickets, as Baroda emerged winners by 65 runs against Services.

Set a challenging target of 341, Services were all out for 275 in their second innings with Pithiya doing the star turn. Pithiya was ably assisted by 19-year-old seamer Raj Limbani (3/47).

For Services, Arjun Sharma tops-scored with an unbeaten 79 while Rajat Paliwal and Lovekesh Bansal chipped in with 47 and 39 respectively.

This was Baroda’s second straight win of the season, having shocked Mumbai by 84 runs in the opener.

Brief Scores

In Mumbai:

Maharashtra 126 and 388. Mumbai 442 & (Target 74) 75/1 (Prithvi Shaw 39 not out).

In Shillong:

Tripura 1st Innings 377/8. Meghalaya 222 and 138. Tripura won by an innings and 17 runs.

In Delhi:

Baroda 477/6 declared and 134/1 declared. Services 271 and (Target 341) 275 all out in 82.2 overs (Arjun Sharma 79 not out, Rajat Paliwal 47; Mahesh Pithiya 6/102, Raj Limbani 3/47).

In Cuttack:

Jammu and Kashmir 270 and 270/7 declared in 73.2 overs (Abdul Samad not out 108, Shubham Khajuria 43, Shubham Pundir 40; Suryakant Pradhan 3/46) vs Odisha 272 and (Target 269) 112/8 in 80.4 overs (Sandeep Pattnaik 55; Umar Nazir Mir 2/8, Sahil Lotra 2/10, Shubham Khajuria 2/15, Abid Mushtaq 2/38).