Bouyed by centuries from Swapnil Gugale and Chirag Khurana, Maharshtra kept themselves in the hunt to take the all-important first innings lead against Tamil Nadu in their 2014-15 Ranji Trophy semi-final fixture at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. In reply to Tamil Nadu's 549, the last year's runners-up finished day three at 394 for 5.
Starting day four at 110 for 1, Gugale and Khurana scored 119 runs in the morning session, taking their partnership tally to 270 off 469 balls and laid a solid foundation for the middle-order.
Gugale slammed 154 with 28 fours, while No 3 batsman Khurana played a perfect ally with an equally delightful 125 (13x4). Gugale fell to Baba Aparajith after which Maharashtra lost two quick wickets in the form of Rahul Tripathi (2) and Khurana to Aswin Crest.
Ankit Bawane and Kedar Jadhav (26) then took the score closer to 400, but the wicket of Jadhav by Malolan Rangarajan late in the day seems to have tipped the scales in Tamil Nadu's favour. Bawane is unbeaten on 47, along with skipper Rohit Motwani (4*) as Maharshtra trail Tamil Nadu by 155 runs. With only one day remaining in the match, the team which takes the first-innings lead will move in to the final to face Karnataka, who defeated Mumbai at Bangalore in the other semi-final.
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