MAHARASHTRA IN HAZARE SEMIS

NEW DELHI: Maharashtra put up a solid all-round performance to outclass Mumbai by seven wickets in the quarterfinal match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Wednesday.

It was a thorough professional performance by Maharashtra as they first restricted a star-studded Mumbai batting line-up to a modest 222 for 9 in 50 overs and then surpassed the score in 46.5 overs losing only three wickets.

It was a perfect example of team effort as there were no stand-out performers but a lot of them made useful contributions in team’s victory.

While right-arm seamer Pradeep Dadhe (3/57 in 10 overs) was the most successful bowler, it was the spin duo of debutant off-spinner Prashant Kore (2/34 in 10 overs) and leftarm spinner Satyajeet Bachhav (1/31 in 10 overs), who stifled the opposition batsmen in the middle-overs to set up the match for Maharashtra.

While chasing, the strategy to promote all-rounder Shrikant Mundhe (70, 95 balls) worked well as his 117-run stand for the second wicket with skipper Rahul Tripathi (49, 73 balls) proved to be important in the match.

While there was a minislump with both Mundhe and Tripathi departing at team score of 135, in-form Naushad Sheikh (51 not out) and Ankit Bawne (37 not out) added 89 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket stand to take the team home. Maharashtra batsmen curbed their natural instincts of playing strokes and a small total meant that there was not much pressure on them while chasing.