Saurashtra whipped hosts Maharashtra by eight wickets with more than a day to spare in their Group A Super League Ranji Trophy tie at Nagothane on Wednesday to keep themselves in the hunt for a berth in the semi-finals.
Left-arm spinners Rakesh Dhurv and Ravinder Jadeja shared eight wickets between themselves to bundle out Maharashtra, who trailed by 117 runs in the first innings, for a paltry 182 runs in the second essay.
The visitors then scored 68 for two to win the match.
The comprehensive victory powered Saurashtra to the top of the table with 20 points ahead of their last league tie against Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium from December 25-28.
Twenty-six-year-old Dhurv grabbed four of the last five wickets to finish with figures of 5 for 37. Jadeja claimed 3 for 45 for a match haul of seven wickets.
Seasoned batsman Hrishikesh Kanitkar top-scored for Maharashtra by making 62 in 149 balls studded with ten fours.
Kanitkar, who batted for 209 minutes, was fifth man to be out. Rest of the batsmen fell cheaply with Vishal Bhilare (31 in 90 minutes) and Kedar Jadhav (27 not out) providing some resistance.
Saurashtra started off well with openers Kanhaiya Vaghela (29 not out) and S Jogiyani (25) adding 42 runs to put them firmly on the way to a resounding victory.
Scorecard
Maharashtra 1st innings 136
Saurashtra 1st innings 253
Maharashtra 2nd innings 182
Saurashtra (2nd innings):
K Vaghela not out 29
S Jogiyani c Khadiwale b Bahutule 25
S Kotak c Kanitkar b Bahutule 3
C Pujara not out 4
Extras (b 4, nb 3) 7
Total (for 2 wkts, in 31.5 overs) 68
Fall of wickets: 1-42, 2-64
Bowling: Fallah 3-1-4-0, Bahutule 13.5-3-35-2, Agarkar 12-5-21-0, Sayyed 2-1-1-0, Khadiwale 1-0-3-0.
