Khadkikar's century gives Maharashtra succour

A century by one-drop Kashinath Khadkikar helped hosts Maharashtra to 301/7 at stumps on the opening day of their Cooch Behar Trophy prequarter final game against Karnataka at the Nehru Stadium in Pune on Friday.

After winning the toss and electing to make first use of the wicket, Maharashtra lost opener SK Kamathe to left arm seamer Steve Lazarus in the third over of the innings for nought.

Off spinner Mulewa Dharmichand scalped the next two wickets as the hosts slipped to 80/3 before Khadkikar and RR Dharwat (37) launched a recovery, compiling 119 runs for the fourth wicket. Both were dismissed in the space of four balls at the same scoreline of 199. Khadkikar had made 123 of those, in 175 balls with 22 boundaries. The lower order chipped in with useful contributions and at stumps AP Thakur (25) and KR Adhav (20) were holding sway. Dharmichand finished with the best figures of 3/96.