Good day in office

After being pushed on the back foot on day one, Maharashtra came outwith a disciplined batting effort to throw the gauntlet at Andhra

Suhrid Barua, Pune Mirror, November 12, 2008

In cricket it takes a session to change the complexion of the game andMaharashtra showed just that as the hosts had set up the 'process' ofwresting the 'initiative' from Andhra on day one itself with SamadFallah's three-wicket burst with the second new ball. And though theAndhra lower-order stuck it out for two hours in the first session onday two, even threatening to regain control over the match, especiallywith the 38-run last-wicket stand between Raju and Vijaykumar thatfrustrated Maharashtra to no end. It finally needed skipper NikhilParadkar to wrap up their innings when he cleaned up Raju at thevisitors' score on 348.

The biggest bright spot for Maharashtra in the pre-lunch session wasthe end of a wicket-taking drought of Bangladeshi left-arm spinnerEnamul Haque, who was jumping for joy after snaring Suresh who skiedone to Fallah at mid-on. "I want to thank God for it. Taking wicketson such surfaces has been a huge challenge. This lean run has made metougher, I'm sure I will only get better," he said with a massive sighof relief after snaffling his maiden Ranji wicket for Maharashtra .

And as if to celebrate his first Ranji wicket under Maharashtracolours, his team-mate Samad Fallah came to the party, taking hissixth scalp trapping Sai in front to complete his second six-wickethaul in an Ranji innings. "My 6-45 against Himachal Pradesh atDharamsala came on a wicket that had something in it for the bowlers.Here, the deck has little purchase for the seamers," remarked Fallah.

Once the action resumed in the post-lunch session, it was anout-and-out Harshad Khadiwale show. A guy who prefers to play in the'V', Khadiwale seems to have a lot of time to play his shots. Blessedwith a wide array of strokes on both sides of the wicket, Khadiwaledrove, cut and pulled with authority and literally made the Andhrabowlers bend to his knees.

His flowing strokes unsettled the Andhra bowlers who were alreadygetting rattled by the left-right combo (his opening partner RohanBhosale is a southpaw). He survived two chances on 66 and 86 but itmattered little as he had done maximum damage on Andhra by then.
Spare a thought for Rohan Bhosale as well. He may not a naturalstrokemaker like Khadiwale, but makes up for it with his doggeddetermination.

The 158-run opening stand wouldn't have been possiblewithout Bhosale's solid support from the other end. Having attainedhis career-best Ranji score of 72 at stumps, he could be in line tonotch up his maiden Ranji century which could facilitate the victorypath for Maharashtra. Remember one thing: if the State batsmen manageto bat out the whole day on Wednesday (wipe out the 143-run deficit asearly as possible), let alone first innings lead, the State side couldbe even sniffing victory.