Medium pacers Mohit Sharma and Ashish Hooda shared nine wickets between them on the fourth and final day to guide hosts Haryana to a 53-run win over Maharashtra in their Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match at the Chaudhary Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium, here today.
The 26-year-old Mohit, who has represented India in 11 ODIs so far, returned with a five-wicket haul, while his teammate Ashish scalped four wickets to stop Maharashtra from chasing 208 as the Rohit Motwani-led side were bundled for 154.
After this win, the Sunny Singh-led Haryana grabbed six points, while Maharashtra drew a blank.
Ashish struck twice early in the morning, removing opener Chirag Khurana (12) and Sangram Atitkar (0) in the seventh over to reduce Maharashtra to 18-2.
Sharma then struck twin blows in the 15th over, dismissing opener Harshad Khadiwale (26) and Motwani (5). Ashish then trapped Ankit Bawne lbw as Maharashtra lost half of their side in just 17.4 overs with 66 on board.
Kedar Jadhav tried his best to keep Maharashtra in the chase with a run-a-ball 29 but he was soon adjudged lbw by a Sharma delivery. Shrikant Mundhe (2) too was send packing when he was caught by Avi Barot off Sharma in the 31st over as the visitors further slipped to 110-7.
Rahul Tripathi was the highest run-scorer for Maharashtra as he blasted five fours and two sixes to score a 64-ball 39. However, there was no support at the other end as Sharma had Anupam Sanklecha (10) caught by Sachin Rana.
All hopes of a successful chase ended when pacer Kuldeep Hooda picked up his only wicket in the form of Tripathi, who was caught by Amit Mishra. Ashish hit the final nail on the coffin when he cleaned bowled last man Samad Fallah in the 40th over.
Brief Scores:
Haryana: 136 and 176.
Maharashtra: 105 and 154 all out in 39.2 (Rahul Tripathi 39; Mohit Sharma 45/5).
