Khadiwale, Jadhav tons drive Maharashtra

Maharashtra 360 for 3 (Khadiwale 147*, Jadhav 106) v Goa
Scorecard

Harshad Khadiwale and Kedar Jadhav continued their run feast, scoring centuries on the first day for the second week in succession as Maharashtra plundered 360 for 3 against Goa at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium on the outskirts of Pune.

The picturesque stadium has been a happy hunting ground for home batsmen and they took advantage of a mediocre Goa bowling attack after being put in to bat.

With Maharashtra deciding to alter their combination from last week's game in Hyderabad, the promising youngster Vijay Zol walked out to open the innings with Khadiwale. Though Saurabh Bandekar did ask a few questions with the new ball, the duo survived the initial period. Zol, who scored a double-century on Ranji debut, moved to 20 before Bandekar breached his defense with an incoming delivery that crashed into the off stump.

Khadiwale, coming into the game on the back of a century in each of Maharashtra's two games so far, looked in supreme touch. He added 75 with Sangram Atitkar before the latter was trapped lbw by the offspinner Amit Yadav in the penultimate over before lunch.

That brought together Maharashtra's in-form combination of Jadhav and Khadiwale, who had shared a 206-run partnership in Hyderabad last week. The pair took on Goa's spin duo of Shadab Jakati and Yadav, who did the bulk of the bowling in the second session. Jadhav went after Jakati, slogging the left-arm spinner for his first six that rammed into the super sopper outside the square leg fence. Jadhav's craft was also on display as he then played late cuts whenever either of the spinners pitched it short.

Jadhav then danced down the wicket and hit Yadav almost 20 rows back into the stands to complete his fifty. Khadiwale shifted gears and hit Yadav for a six over long-off. Minutes before tea, Khadiwale flicked the medium-pacer Gauresh Gawas through midwicket for a couple and completed his 12th first-class century.

The attacking stand prompted the Goa captain Ravikant Shukla to adopt defensive tactics. Jakati changed his angle to over the wicket with a defensive line, hoping to contain the batsmen. Even that didn't work as Jadhav reverse swept the first ball to the point fence, and then paddled one to the fine leg boundary, much like Sachin Tendulkar.

Jadhav threw his wicket away shortly after scoring his second successive century, top-edging Yadav to offer wicketkeeper Keenan Vaz a dolly. But with Khadiwale looking solid and Ankit Bawne having reached a sedate 36, Maharashtra looked set to pile on their third-successive 450-plus total on the board.