Swapnil Gugale compiled a gritty fifty as Maharashtra finished Day 3 on 110 for 1, in reply to Tamil Nadu's massive first innings total of 549, in the Ranji Trophy semi-final at the Eden Gardens, on Friday.
Led by opener Gugale's unbeaten 56 from 100 balls (11x4), in an unbroken 90-run stand with Chirag Khurana (batting 36 from 77 balls; 7x4), Maharashtra ended the day in a healthy position.
Last season's runners-up still have a mountain to climb. They need 440 runs to secure the first innings lead.
Resuming on 426 for five, Tamil Nadu's innings finally folded an hour and 15 minutes after lunch in an ironical way, when Prasanth Paramaswaran (0) was run-out by Anupam Sanklecha while responding to Malolan Rangarajan's call for a second.
Rangarajan was left stranded at the other end with 67 not out (147 balls) as Tamil Nadu batted 226.4 overs, spanning 16 hours and 40 minutes at a run-rate of 2.42.
Earlier, Sanklecha (3/115) dismissed the two overnight batsmen Baba Indrajith (69) and Ramaswamy Prasanna (72), both caught at the slip cordon by Harshad Khadiwale, with addition of 20 runs in the day.
But the tired Maharashtra bowlers slogged to bundle them out as the last three wickets added 105 crucial runs.
Maharashtra started scoring freely from ball number one, with Gugale slicing Parameswaran through the third man boundary.
Gugale lost his senior opening partner, Khadiwale (14), early when the latter's defence was breached by Laxmipathy Balaji's incoming delivery. But Khurana gave Maharashtra a ray of hope.
The target, Gugale said, would be to bat through the day on Saturday, keeping small targets in mind.
Not being over ambitious, he added: "We just need to keep batting and keep small targets in mind and then probably take things as they come. If we remain focused I hope things would fall in place."
Taking about the wicket, he said: "It's pretty flat, and the ball is not doing much off the seam or the surface. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's game."
Brief scores:
Tamil Nadu: 549 all out in 226 overs (Dinesh Karthik 113, Vijay Shankar 91, Ramaswamy Prasanna 72, Baba Indrajith 69, Malolan Rangarajan 67).
Maharashtra: 110 for 1 in 32 overs (Swapnil Gugale 56 batting, Chirag Khurana 36 batting).
Image: Swapnil Gugale of Maharashtra celebrates after scoring a half century during the Ranji Trophy semi-final at Eden Gardens.
Photo: PTI
