Maharashtra edge out Baroda

Maharshtra by virtue of their first innings lead picked up five points in their Under-16 Vijay Merchant trophy match against Baroda at the Motibaug Palace Ground on Monday.The hosts had to be content with three points as the match ended in a draw.

Earlier, Baroda won the toss and decided to bat first. The openers gave a decent start scoring 56 runs off 12 overs. Most of the batsmen made good starts but failed to convert it into long innings. R Solanki was the top scorer with 84 off 141 balls laced with 14 hits to the fence. Baroda were bowled out for 263 in 90.1 overs. S Agarkar picked up five for 80. Aditya Sharma picked up two for 21.

In reply, Maharashtra batted cautiously. Openers S Puranik (38) and Aditya Sharma (16) put on 62 runs off 35.2 overs. C Suryavanshi and S Gaikwad added a 102 run partnership for the third wicket off 29 overs.

Suryavanshi topscored with 68 off 126 balls, with eight boundaries. S Chavan chipped in with a useful 58 off 116 balls, hitting nine to the fence. A Bochare, Y Pathan and J Naikwade picked up three wickets each for 50, 68 and 73 runs respectively. Maharashtra were bowled out for 308 in 118.3 overs.

In the second innings, Baroda declared at 238 for two off 64 overs setting Maharashtra a target of 283. R Solanki continued his good form scoring an unbeaten 114 off 197 balls, hitting 18 boundaries. Yusuf Pathan was unbeaten on 50 off 48 balls with eight hits to the fence. Opener R Patel chipped in with 63 off 134 balls. Maharshtra batted the day for 33 overs ending the day at 92 for two.