Zol ton leaves Maharashtra with one hand on the trophy

The home side finished the penultimate day on 205 for two after having claimed the first innings lead of 57 runs.

Zol put on 104 runs with Jay Pande for the opening wicket before Pande skied an attempted pull. Zol, reached his fifty in just 54 balls with the aid of nine boundaries and later settled down to make 119 off 185 balls. The century was his third of the season.

In the morning, Maharashtra, who were 137 ahead and needed to dismiss the remaining three Mumbai batsmen for the lead got the breakthrough as early as in the third over. Though overnight bat Mitesh Rane didn't last long, Sagar Mishra, resuming on 32, stitched a 58 run partnership with number ten Amit Kadam.

Kadam was finally trapped by Amol Chinte and seven overs later, left-arm spinner Jagdish Zope trapped Mishra for the lead.

However, Zol and Shubham Ranjane's 65 partnership for the third wicket, the latter unbeaten on 17, helped Maharashtra to a strong position by the end of the day. With just one day's play remaining and Maharashtra already sitting on the first innings lead and 264 ahead overall, more or less have one hand on the trophy.

Brief scores: Maharashtra 297 & 205 for two (V Zol 119 not out, J Pande 41; A Parkar 1/77) vs Mumbai 238 all out (S Iyer 62, S Mishra 69; A Chinte 4/80)

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