Kale, Sugwekar in double century stand

Skipper AV Kale and SS Sugwekar hit unbeaten centuries and shared an unbroken double century stand for the third wicket as Maharashtra hit up 288 for two at at stumps on the opening day of their West Zone Ranji Trophy match against Gujarat at Sardar Vallabhai Patel stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday.

Winning the toss, Maharashtra made a shaky start losing both openers NA Godbole (16) and SS Bhave (13) with only 51 runs on the board. Medium pacer L Patel took both the wickets. But the Gujarat bowlers did not enjoy any other success for the rest of the day as Kale and Sugwekar did pretty much what they liked. Kale who got an unbeaten 248 in the last Ranji Trophy game, seemed to carry on from where he left off and at close, was still batting with 134. He batted 324 minutes, faced 254 balls and hit 17 fours. Sugwekar another veteran of many battles, did not lag behind and matched his captain in stroke and run production. At close he was unbeaten on 110. He batted 286 minutes, faced 214 balls and hit eleven fours. By close the two had added 237 runs for the second wicket off 76.4 overs. By stumps, Patel had conceded 69 runs for his two wickets.