Maharashtra medium pace bowler Shrikant Mundhe ripped the Rajasthan cricket team’s weak and feeble batting line up apart as the strong and subtle Maharashtra team thrashed the visiting side Rajasthan by nine wickets and that too with much ease, on an eventful third day of their Ranji Trophy Group B cricket match here today.
Last night, with 274 runs for the loss of nine wickets in their first innings, Maharashtra folded without adding anything to their tally before bowling out Rajasthan for not so good a score of 106 runs. Now, chasing a paltry target of 103 runs, the home team romped home in 19.3 overs with opener Swapnil Gugale smashing an unbeaten score of 56 runs after facing 64 deliveries, which included seven boundaries and an over boundary. The foundation of the victory was, however, laid by Shrikant Mundhe or rather by his deadly deliveries that stormed the Rajasthani innings sharing much resemblance to the torrid hurricane or cyclone amidst the Kalahari Desert. His record collection of six wickets dearly cost them merely 38 runs in some 13.4 overs, an effort which left Rajasthan in dire straits.
Aristh Singhvi, the only ray of hope as it seemed for the Rajasthan Cricket Team, was the highest scorer for Rajasthan with just a meagre score of 19 runs after facing quite a lot of deliveries, even as seven of the visiting batsmen departed back to the dressing room without even having a glance of the double digit mark. In spite of setting a small target, Maharashtra Ranji Cricket Team literally sailed through with Gugule’s innings being the best.
Brief scores:
Rajasthan: 270 (1st innings) & 106 (Aristh Singhvi scored 19 runs in 2nd innings)
Maharashtra: 274 (1st innings) & 105/1 in 19.3 overs (Swapnil Gugule scored 56 runs and remained not out in 2nd innings).