Seamers Mukesh Choudhary and Ramakrishna Shekhar Ghosh took four wickets each to power Maharashtra to a 144-run win over Chandigarh on the fourth day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match here.
Set an imposing target of 464 after Prithvi Shaw`s scintillating 222-run knock, Chandigarh ended third day`s play at 129 for one. Eventually, they were all out for 319 in 94.1 overs on the final evening.
In order to make a game of it, Chandigarh needed a couple of big knocks from their top batters but, with the exception of opener Arjun Azad, who slammed a fine 168 in 236 balls, none of their players could go on to make a big hundred.
Playing in only his second first-class match, this was the 24-year-old Azad`s second successive century, after his 141 against Goa on debut.
Skipper Manan Vohra chipped in with 58 while U19 World Cup winner Raj Bawa contributed 42, as the others failed to reach double digit scores in their second innings.
Choudhary and Ghosh were the chief wicket-takers for Maharashtra in Chandigarh`s second innings, returning figures of 4/34 from 19 overs and 4/71 from 20.1 overs.
The outright victory helped Maharashtra bag a full six points from the match, while there was nothing for the home team Chandigarh.
While the bowlers did their job on the final day, a lot of credit for Maharashtra`s victory must go to Shaw, whose third fastest double hundred in Ranji Trophy history gave his team enough runs on the board and also time to take all 10 wickets in Chandigarh`s second innings.
Brief scores:
At Chandigarh: Maharashtra: 313 all out and 359/3 declared in 52 overs (Prithvi Shaw 222) vs Chandigarh: 209 all out in 73 overs and 319 all out in 94.1 overs (Arjun Azad 168; Mukesh Choudhary 4/34, Ramakrishna Shekhar Ghosh 4/71).
At Shivamogga: Karnataka: 371 all out in 110.1 overs (Karun Nair 174 not out, Shreyas Gopal 57; Arjun Tendulkar 3/100, Vasuki Koushik 3/35) vs Goa 217 all out and 143/1 in 46 overs (Abhinav Tejrana not out 73, Manthan Khutkar not out 55).
At Rajkot: Saurashtra: 260 all out vs Madhya Pradesh: 355/9 in in 135 overs (Yash Dubey 159, Saransh Jain 103 batting; Jaidev Unadkat 4/33).
At Mullanpur: Punjab: 436 all out in 163.4 overs and 15/0 in 7 overs vs Kerala: 371 all out in 136.2 overs (Ahammed Imran 86, Ankit Sharma 62, Baba Aparajith 51; Krish Bhagat 4/52).
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