Ton-up Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ankit Bawne help Maharashtra enter first final

Maharashtra’s Ruturaj Gaikwad celebrates his ton. Pic/BCCI

The in-form duo of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ankit Bawne slammed scintillating hundreds as Maharashtra earned a maiden entry into the final of Vijay Hazare Trophy with a 12-run win over Assam here on Wednesday.

Maharashtra will take on Saurashtra in the summit clash on Friday. Sent in to bat, skipper Gaikwad continued his sensational run with a 126-ball 168, while Bawne made 110 off 89 balls as the duo shared a 207-run partnership to lift Maharashtra to 350 for seven.

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Chasing the stiff total, Rishav Das (53), Sibsankar Roy (78) and Swarupam Purkayastha (95) kept Assam in the hunt before the team succumbed to scoreboard pressure. In the end, Assam were stopped at 338 for eight.

Meanwhile, Veteran left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat produced a sensational four-wicket haul, while Prerak Mankad put on an allround show as Saurashtra thrashed Karnataka by five wickets to sail into the Vijay Hazare Trophy final here on Wednesday.

Unadkat rocked Karnataka's top-order, dismissing skipper Mayank Agarwal (1) and keeper-batter BR Sharath (3) cheaply before Mankad reduced Karnataka to 47 for 4 inside 19 overs with wickets of Nikin Jose (12) and Manish Pandey (0) in the space of four balls. Such was their misery that seven Karnataka batters failed to get to double digits as their innings folded for 171 in 49.1 overs. In reply, former champions Saurashtra romped home in 36.2 overs.