Maharashtra took a 356-run lead over Haryana on the penultimate day of their five-day Ranji Trophy Plate semi-final at the Nehru stadium in Pune on Wednesday.

Haryana, who made 236 runs in their first essay, were tottering at 215 for four when the stumps were drawn for the day, still needing 141 runs to make Maharashtra bat again.

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The visitors started their second innings on a good note with Chetan Sharma (61, 8x4) and Sunny Singh (87, 15x4) putting on a brave fight.

But the other Haryana batsmen could not withstand the fiery bowling of the Maharashtra pacers and tumbled one after the other.

Shafiq Khan (34) and Ajay Ratra (1) were at the crease when play was called off.

For the hosts, K Khadkikar and K Adhav took two wickets each.

Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 456 for seven, Maharashtra were all out at 592 with Satyajit Satbhai scoring a century. Satbhai scored 119 runs to put his team in a commanding position.

For Haryana, J Sharma took four wickets while Amit Mishra and G Vashisht also chipped in with three and two wickets respectively.

Scoreboard

Haryana (1st Innings): 236

Maharashtra (1st Innings): (Overnight 546 for 7)
D Jadhav c Shahu b J Sharma 132
N Godbole c V Singh b Mishra 35
H Kanitkar c Ratra b Vashisht 180
K Aphale c C Sharma b Mishra 26
R Khirid lbw Vashisht 11
K Khadkikar c V Singh b J Sharma 6
S Satbhai c Mishra b J Sharma 119
C Kulkarni b V Singh 24
S Shah lbw J Sharma 9
I Siddiqui c and b Mishra 7
K Adhav not out 0.

Extras: (b-14, nb-26, w-3) 43

Total: (all out in 188.3 overs) 592

Fall of wickets: 1-85, 2-279, 3-333, 4-350, 5-360, 6-469, 7-514, 8-555, 9-582.

Bowling: J Sharma 43.3-6-126-4, S Virmani 17-1-79-0, S Singh 4-1-12-0, A Mishra 50-4-158-3, G Vashisht 43-8-120-2, V Singh 19-4-50-1, I Ganda 12-1-33-0.

Haryana (2^nd innings):
Chetan Sharma c and b Khadkikar 61
Sunny Singh c and b Khadkikar 87
Jitendra Siwach lbw Adhav 5
Ishan Ganda c and b Adhav 18
Shafiq Khan batting 34
Ajay Ratra batting 1

Extras: (b-2, lb-1, nb-5, w-1) 9

Total: (For 4 wickets in 66 overs) 215

Fall of wickets: 1-151, 2-156, 3-170, 4-206.

Bowling: I Siddiqui 9-1-44-0, R Khirid 13-3-35-0, K Adhav 25-4-66-2, C Kulkarni 5-0-30-0, K Khadkikar 14-0-37-2.