Ranji Trophy: Gugale, Khurana keep Maha in the fight

KOLKATA: Despite having amassed 549, Tamil Nadu players and support staff won't be able to sleep well on Saturday night as Maharashtra stayed in hunt on the penultimate day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal.
In a match which will most likely be decided on first-innings lead, Maharashtra ended Day 4 at 394 for 5, needing a further 155 runs to overhaul the TN total.
Youngsters Swapnil Gugale and Chirag Khurana stood tall and shared a 270-run stand for the second wicket to give Maharashtra hope.However, TN pulled things back with a couple of wickets late in the day to set up an interesting final day.
Gugale, who made a comeback to the side after Vijay Zol was ruled out with an injury after the second match of the season, played a gritty and mature knock as he took charge of the innings from the word go.
Younger partner Khurana, 22, played a supportive role as Gugale tore apart the bowling. The two added 119 runs in the first session off 31 overs.
Khurana reached the three-figure mark, which came off 180 balls with the help of 11 fours, half an hour after lunch.
Gugale raced to his 150 in 274 balls but fell soon after, being caught at deep mid-wicket by Laxmipathy Balaji off Baba Aparajith for 154.
TN struck again with the second new ball, which was claimed in the 85th over, when Aswin Crist trapped Rahul Tripathi in front of the wicket, just nine runs later.
Maharashtra suffered a bigger blow when Crist got Khurana after tea with a beauty that rose sharply from the good length spot and kissed the batsman's gloves on way to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik's gloves.
Karthik fined
Tamil Nadu stumper Dinesh Karthik was fined 40 per cent of his match fee for showing dissent at umpires' decisions and excessive appealing during Saturday's play.
Match referee Sunil Chaturvedi charged him for a Level 1 (2.1.3) offence.
Brief Scores: Tamil Nadu 549 all out vs Maharashtra 3945 (Swapnil Gugale 154, Chirag Khurana 125; Aswin Crist 280).