Maharashtra beat Mumbai to qualify for knock-out

Mumbai: Maharashtra ensured their berth in the knock-out rounds of the Vijay Hazare Trophy along with Mumbai, after defeating the hosts by 15 runs to notch their third straight win in the five-team West Zone one-day league, at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.

Maharashtra, asked to bat first, recovered from a poor start to rake up a challenging total of 254 for 8 riding on Ankit Bawne`s unbeaten 93 in 121 balls with a six and nine fours and then shot out Mumbai for 239 in 48.3 overs to emerge convincing victors. The wreckers-in-chief for Maharashtra were left-arm spinner Akshay Darekar, who grabbed five for 59, and medium-pacer Anupam Sanklecha, who claimed 3 wickets. Mumbai would have lost by a bigger margin but for fighting half centuries by lower-order batsmen Iqbal Abdulla, who made 52 off 60 balls, and fellow-left arm spinner Ankit Chavan (58 off 78 balls). Among the top-order batsmen Abhishek Nayar contributed 42 off 48 balls, but opener and stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane (13), Sushant Marathe (14), former captain Wasim Jaffer (0) and Suryakumar Yadav (5) -- all failed. Earlier, Bawne and Sangram Atitkar (54 in 60 balls with a six and 5 four) rescued Maharashtra with a stand of 89 for the fourth wicket before the former put on useful partnerships ? 38 with Kedar Jadhav (28) and 50 Shrikant Munde (24) - to consolidate the innings. For Mumbai, who rested regular skipper Ajit Agarkar, medium pacers Dhawal Kulkarni and Nayar grabbed two wickets apiece. Mumbai have completed their league engagements with three victories while Maharashtra have a game in hand on Tuesday and would top the league if they win it too. Brief scores: Maharashtra 254 for 8 (Ankit Bawne 93no, Sangram Atitkar 54; D Kulkarni 2/41, A Nayar 2/18) beat Mumbai 239 in 48.3 overs (Iqbal Abdulla 52, Ankit Chavan 58; A Sankhlecha 3 for 23, A Darekar 5/59). PTI