Ranji Trophy: Mumbai cruise to nine-wicket win over Maharashtra, Baroda beat Services by 65 runs

After a crushing loss to Baroda in the season opener, defending champions Mumbai returned to winning ways on Monday. The 42-time winners outplayed Maharashtra in their second Group A encounter and got off the mark on the table.

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Mumbai Get First Win of the Season

Defending champions Mumbai got their Ranji Trophy campaign back on track with an emphatic nine-wicket win over Maharashtra in their second Group A league game here on Monday, offsetting the heavy loss to Baroda in the opening game.

Needing 74 to win, Mumbai went into the final day at 13 for no loss.

While Ayush Mhatre's (15) dismissal robbed them off a bonus point, Prithvi Shaw (39 not out off 36 balls) and Hardik Tamore (21 not out off 26 balls) earned six points for the team in just 13.3 overs.

This was after the 42-time champions lost to Baroda by 84 runs in the opening Ranji Trophy fixture but in the second match at the BKC ground, Mumbai excelled in all departments of the game.

The match was won and lost on the first day itself when Mumbai bowled out Maharashtra for 126 in their first innings and then rode on 17-year-old Mhatre's smashing 176 and Shreyas Iyer's belligerent 142 to score 441.

While Maharashtra fared much better in the second innings with centuries from Ruturaj Gaikwad and veteran Ankit Bawne, apart from a 98 from former India U-19 batter Sachin Dhas, the damage was already done.

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Baroda Beat Services

In Delhi, young off-spinner Mahesh Pithiya returned career-best match haul of 9/169, including six second innings wickets, as Baroda emerged winners by 65 runs against Services.

Set a challenging target of 341, Services were all out for 275 in their second innings with Pithiya doing the star turn. Pithiya was ably assisted by 19-year-old seamer Raj Limbani (3/47).

For Services, Arjun Sharma tops-scored with an unbeaten 79 while Rajat Paliwal and Lovekesh Bansal chipped in with 47 and 39 respectively.

This was Baroda's second straight win of the season, having shocked Mumbai by 84 runs in the opener.

(With inputs from PTI)