CHENNAI: Ruturaj Gaikwad's century (118 batting) and half-centuries by veteran Kedar Jadhav (56) and Azim Kazi (87 batting) put Maharashtra in control against Tamil Nadu on Day 1 of the Elite Group B Ranji Trophy match played in Pune. Maharashtra were comfortably placed at 350 for 6 in 83 overs at stumps.
Put in to bat Maharashtra had a poor start losing Siddhesh Veer and Rahul Tripathi cheaply. Unfortunately Gaikwad too retired hurt while on 23 due to a swelling in the arm. This is when Jadhav put his experience to effective use and did the rescue act along with his skipper Ankit Bawne (45).
''Pleased with the way we played and put runs on the board. We had a bit of ups and downs, but we are in a good position and would like to consolidate on Wednesday morning,'' said Bawne.
After Kedar and Ankit's exit, Gaikwad came in and along with Azim registered a big partnership to hurt the psyche of the TN attack.
''Ruturaj is a brilliant player across formats. The big thing is that he thrives under pressure. Once in the middle session when we lost a couple of wickets, but he (Ruturaj) came back, looked solid and with Azim had a beautiful stand.'' added Bawne. "What separates Ruturaj from others is the hunger to score runs. His desire to excel in every format at all levels makes him a valuable player for any team that he plays for. He constantly tries to raise the bar and this helps him improve his quality of play.''
At one stage, it looked like a TNCA league game between Jolly Rovers and Vijay CC is in progress as many players featuring for TN and Maharashtra also play in the league. ''Playing for Jolly Rovers helped me prepare for Ranji. I thank Bharath Reddy Sir and the Chemplast group for giving me an opportunity to play in the TNCA league. Playing in the TNCA league helped me counter the TN bowlers well on Tuesday,'' said Bawne.
The Tamil Nadu attack was good only in patches. Sandeep Warrier's return did add spice to the attack. However, one could not understand the TN team's strategy and logic as S Ajith Ram included in the squad as a specialist bowler was brought into the attack only in the 65th over.
''Sandeep Warrier bowled well. The Tamil Nadu bowlers bowled well in the middle session and picked up some wickets. After that Ruturaj brilliantly played a counter-attacking game,'' opined Bawne.
This season, Tamil Nadu has allowed the No 6 or 7 to score runs after packing off the top order and it continued as Kazi came up with a gritty unbeaten half-century. ''The wicket is not that easy to play. One needs to work hard on that surface. The first hour will be crucial on Wednesday. We need to play well that session and try to put another 150 to 200 runs on the board,'' signed off Bawne.