Sun-Grace take slender lead

MUMBAI, MARCH 19: South paw Sairaj Bahutule cracked his season's best score of 92 but could not stop Sun-Grace-Mafatlal from bundling out...

MUMBAI, MARCH 19: South paw Sairaj Bahutule cracked his season8217;s best score of 92 but could not stop Sun-Grace-Mafatlal from bundling out Elf Lubricants 20-run short of the former8217;s first innings total of 274 on the second day of the Times Shield Division I cricket final at the Wankhede Stadium today.Bahutule slammed eight fours and three sixes in his 215 minute marathon innings before falling eight short of the three-figure mark. 8220;I went for a normal stroke,8221; said Bahutule after the match, 8220;but the ball went into the rough and came in very sharply.8221; He was caught by Venkatapathy Raju at second slip off the bowling of Iqbal Khan while trying to drive the ball outside the off stump.

Starting their day at 32 for no loss, Elf started badly. Opener Maroof Khan added just one to his overnight score of 17 before handing a return catch to Raju in the third over of the day.

Amol Rane was the next to go trapped lbw by Robin Morris on 29, the only notable score today, other than Bahutule. The Sun-Grace bowlerscalled the shots today as they didn8217;t allow any of the Elf batsmen to settle 8212; Amol Muzumdar 17 and skipper Jatin Paranjpe 9 giving testimony of the fact.Sun-Grace skipper Rohan Gavaskar did well in rolling the attack.

Medium-pacer Morris 3-15 and spinner Iqbal Khan 2-14 were the pick of the bowlers. Left-arm spinner Raju was used the most today and finished with figures of three for 58.

At stumps Nilesh Patwardhan 0 and night watchman Rajesh Pawar 2 were at the crease.

Though Elf were bowled out for 249 they were awarded five penalty runs for slow over-rate by the Sun-Grace bowlers. A slender 20-run lead may not exactly be an advantage for the latter, it nevertheless gives them a slight edge a drawn match resulting in their victory. But with two innings complete at the end of Day Two and a turning wicket which won8217;t get any better the match should go down to the wire.

SCOREBOARD

Sun-Grace-Mafatlal 1st innings: 274

Elf Lubricants 1st innings, overnight 32-0: Amol Ranelbw Morris 29, Maroof Khan camp;b Raju 18, Sairaj Bahutule c Raju b I Khan 92, Amol Muzumdar c Patwardhan b Gokarna 17, Jatin Paranjpe c Bedade b Morris 9, Ojas Mehta c Pagnis b Raju 16, Atul Ranade c Patwardhan b Morris 20, Mazhar Ghadially c I Khan b Raju 20, Paras Mhambrey lbw Pawar 0, Nilesh Kulkarni c Gokarna b I Khan 10; Extras 4b, 7lb, 7nb: 18. Total all out in 98.5 overs including 5 penalty runs: 254.

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Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-72, 3-123, 4-157, 5-193, 6-217, 7-219, 8-221, 9-248.

Bowling: Z Khan 20-3-63-0, Gokarna 9-5-13-1, Morris 14-7-15-3, Pawar 18-4-66-1, Raju 31.5-9-58-3, Gavaskar 3-1-9-0, I Khan 3-0-14-2.