Maharashtra prevail over Kerala in Buchi Babu final

Chennai: Maharashtra`s openers rose to the occasion as they won the Buchi Babu cricket tournament beating Kerala by two wickets in the summit clash, on Tuesday.

On a day when Kerala off spinners shone, scalping the top five batsmen within 100 runs, Maharashtra openers Chirag Khurana (82 off 133 balls, 8x4) and Ashok Khadiwale (55 off 87 balls; 5x4, 1x6) laid a solid foundation by adding 110 runs in 28.3 overs. Then, Chirag and Rohan Bhosale (31, 5x4) put on 46 runs for the second wicket in 13 overs, and another 34 for the third wicket with Rohit Motwani (46 off 87 balls, 1x4) to script the victory. With 190 runs on the board and three batsmen back in the pavilion, Motwani and Ankit Bhawne (59 off 75 balls; 4x4, 1x6) consolidated the innings, adding 75 runs in 18.4 overs for the fourth wicket. However, Maharashtra, who were four for 299 at one stage, lost four more wickets for addition of just eight runs. But Ajinkya Joshi (13 not out) and Dominic Joseph Muthusamy (6 not out) knocked off the required runs to reach the target. PTI