A punishing 93 off 116 balls by opener Niranjan Godbole, and his 109-run third wicket stand with Abhijit Kale (38), enabled Maharashtra pull off a slender six-run victory over Mumbai in a thrilling West Zone Ranji Trophy one-dayer, at the Deccan Gymkhana ground in Pune on Friday.
Asked to take strike first after Mumbai skipper Paras Mhambrey won the toss, Maharashtra scored 236 from their alloted 50 overs. This was mainly possible due to some good batting by Godbole, who treated the Mumbai attack with scant respect, hitting nine fours in his knock of 93, while Kale (38) provided him adequate support.
Later, a blistering unbeaten 48 off 52 balls by all-rounder Ranjit Khird turned the tide in Maharashtra's favour.
Leggie Sairaj Bhautule was the most successful Mumbai bowler, claiming 4 for 41, while medium pacer Avishkar Salvi claimed 3 for 38.
Mumbai, chasing a modest total, had themselves to blame for their undoing. Two dismissals -- of opener Wasim Jaffer (11), who was given leg before to medium pacer Ranjit Khirid by umpire L Laxminarayan of Andhra Pradesh, and later skipper Mhambrey, who was given out stumped by keeper Shailesh Bhosale -- took the fight away from them.
Nishit Shetty, 62 from 49 balls, and southpaw Sushant Manjrekar, 35 from 66 balls, brought Mumbai within striking distance, but then came the slide as Shetty, who was well-anchored, was run-out, and later Sairaj Bahutule was also run-out by Khirid's direct throw from short mid-wicket.
Mumbai folded up for 230 to give Maharashtra a six-run victory.
Medium pacer Ranjit Khirid (3 for 26) and skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar (2 for 42) shared the spoils.
Saurashtra score exciting win over Baroda
Saurashtra clinched an exciting two-wicket victory over Baroda in the one-day West Zone Ranji Trophy tie, dedicated to the late Ramakant Desai, at the Nehru stadium in Pune on Friday.
Batting first, Baroda posted 208 in 49 overs, mainly due to a hard-hitting 56 off 49 balls by Tushar Arote and a sedate 43 off 78 balls by Pinkesh Gurbaxani.
Medium pacer Jolly Jobanputra 5 for 33 was the most successful bowler for Saurashtra, while Sandeep Maniyar ( 2 for 25), Neeraj Odedra (2 for 42) and Feroz Bhambania (2 for 41) were also among the wicket-takers.
In reply, Saurashtra overhauled the total, losing eight wickets, with three overs to spare.
Feroz Bhambania's knock of 58 off 96 balls, and later Rakesh Dhruva's 58 off 54 balls turned the tide in their favour.
Neeraj Odedra (17) and Jolly Jobanputra (5) remained unconquered.
Seamer Rakesh Patel was the most successful bowler, claiming five for 33.
Haryana beat Delhi by seven wickets
Haryana trounced Delhi by seven wickets in the one-day North Zone Ranji Trophy match at the Maharaja Aggarsain stadium in Rohtak on Friday.
With today's victory, Haryana have five points while Delhi are yet to open their account.
Winning the toss and electing to bat, Delhi were restricted to 171 in 48.2 overs by fine bowling spells from Mishra, Joginder and Sonu. Mishra bagged three wickets while Joginder and Sonu two each. The other wickets were shared by Vashisht and Narwal, while Sarandeep Singh was run-out
Hosts Haryana, powered by sterling knocks from Chetan Sharma (64) and Parinder Sharma (38), cruised to 173 for the loss of three wickets with ten overs and five balls to spare.
Bengal rout Assam by 168 runs
Reigning champions Assam suffered a humiliating 168-run defeat at the hands of favourites Bengal in the East Zone one-day Ranji Trophy match in Agartala on Friday.
An unbeaten, career-best century by Devang Gandhi (164) enabled Bengal set Assam a huge target of 295.
Winning the toss, Bengal elected to bat and scored 294, losing six wickets, in 49 overs. Their two openers, Nikhil Haldipur (4) and Arijit Basu (20), were back in the pavilion when the score was only 50.
Devang Gandhi's fifth one-day century came off 109 balls. He faced 199 balls to score 164, which was laced with 19 boundaries and five sixes.
Bengal's other important contributors were skipper Rohan Gavaskar (31) and wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta (34).
Defending champions ssam's Javed Zaman took three wickets in nine overs,giving away 54 runs, while skipper Sukhbinder Singh and Manoj Joglekar claimed a wicket each.
Except captain Sukhbinder Singh, no other Assam players could stand up to the Bengal attack. Sukhbinder scored 51 off 47 balls, hitting eight fours and a six.
Bengal's Ranadeb Bose was the most successful bowler, scalping four wickets in ten overs, giving away 52 runs, while veteran Utpal Chatterjee claimed three wickets in nine overs. Rohan Gavaskar and Sourashis Lahiri took a wicket each.
