Mumbai and Maharashtra settle for draws in high scoring matches

The recent round of West Zone league matches in the Cooch Behar Trophy Tournament ended in tame draws on Wednesday. In a high scoring match involving Saurashtra and Mumbai, the latter took home five points due to their first innings lead and the former three, while Maharashtra earned their five points when they came up against Baroda.

At Municipal Stadium in Rajkot, opting to bat, Mumbai declared their first innings after amassing 478 for the loss of 8 wickets. The chief architect being skipper VR Mane with a masterly 167. Mane who was the fourth batsman to be dismissed, shared a 145 run fourth wicket stand with VA Indulkar (82). Saurashtra replied with 357 runs in their first innings thanks to a fine 106 by P Jadeja. AA Shaikh (5 for 105) and AB Kulkarni (4 for 100) shared the spoils for Mumbai.

But by the time Mumbai set out on their second innings late on the final day the final result was all but a draw and Mumbai in the 20 overs they received, scored 38 runs while losing the wicket of opener SS Thakur.

In the other match of the day at at Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara, Maharashtra opted to bat and thanks to a superlative 203 by KR Khadkikar put up 415 on the board. Y Phatan with 4 for 96 was the most successful bowler for Baroda. In reply Baroda was bundled out for just 191, giving a overall lead of 220 runs for Maharashtra. Following on Baroda fared a little beter and ended the final day at 69 for 1.