Ranjane props up Maharashtra in Cooch Behar semifinal

BANGALORE: Maharashtra's Shubham S Ranjane (66 not out), Jay Pande (65) and Vijay Zol (56) may have scored half centuries, but Karnataka's bowlers made the visiting batsmen work hard for their runs on the opening day of their four-day U-19 Cooch Behar semifinal at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Sunday.
Electing to bat, Maharashtra closed the day on a healthy 271/4 with Ranjane and Nikhil Naik (38) at the crease.Although the hosts initially failed to make a breakthrough, their disciplined efforts made runs hard to come by for Maharashtra.
The right and left opening combination of Pande and Zol raised 118 runs for the opening wicket before right-arm medium-pacer Pradeep T dismissed Zol. Part-time off-spinner KN Bharath, who shone with the bat in the previous match, then got rid of the other opener to have Maharashtra in a bit of a bother.
Both the new batsmen, Yassar Shaik (40) and Ranjane steadied the Maharashtra innings by adding 66 runs for the third-wicket before left-arm spinner got into the act with two quick strikes. After sending back Shaik with the total on 198, Suchith had Rahul T Sharma plumb in front with just two runs added to the total.
However, Ranjane and Naik kept the hosts at bay with an unconquered 71 partnership for the fifth-wicket.
Brief scores:
Maharashtra: 271/4 in 93 overs (Jay Pande 65, Vijay Zol 56, Yassar Shaik 40, Shubham Ranjane 66 (batting), Nikhil Naik 38 (batting); J Suchith 2-45) vs Karnataka.