Jharkhand struggle against Maharashtra in Ranji tie

Nashik: Jharkhand were struggling at 195 for the loss of seven wickets in reply to Maharashtra`s first innings score of 460 on the second day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Plate `B` group league match on Friday.

The visitors are staring at the prospects of a follow- on at the end of play at Anant Kanhere Ground here in North Maharashtra. Earlier, resuming their overnight innings at 372 for the loss of four wickets, Maharashtra were all out at 460 in 114 overs. Nikhil Paradkar, who was unbeaten at 78, added only nine runs before being adjudged LBW on the bowling of S Rao. Skipper Rohit Motwani made 78 runs, punctuated with 10 boundaries, before being caught by S P Gautam off the bowling of K S Sharma. Jharkhand skipper S J Nadeem was the most successful bowler, claiming four wickets. Jharkhand batsmen faced some tough time facing Maharashtra bowlers. Openers Manish Varddhan (24) and Ramiz Nemat (79) gave a good start to their team, but once they were back to pavillion, wickets kept falling at regular intervals. Saurabh Tiwari (42) was the only other notable contributor for the visitors. PTI