Tamil Nadu set Maharashtra an imposing victory target of 362 runs on the penultimate day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Elite 'B' match at Chennai on Sunday.

 In their chase, Maharashtra were 24 without loss at close, with Dhiraj Jadav (14) and K B Shinde (9) at the crease.

Earlier, resuming at 15 for no loss, Tamil Nadu who had a first innings lead of 102 runs, declared their second innings at 259 for eight made in 82 overs.

Tamil Nadu openers were off to a solid start but Dinesh Kaarthick was dismissed in the 27th over.

Kaarthick was caught at point by Dhruv Mohan off Hrishikesh Kanitkar for 58 (6x4, 2x6). He had put on 105 runs for the first wicket with Vidyuth Sivaramakrishnan who contributed 48 (4x4, 1x6) from 93 balls before he was caught by Ranjit Khirid at slip off Kanitkar.

Maharashtra bowlers then dominated as captain Sridharan Sriram (23) was caught behind by Satyajit Satbhai off Khirid. Subramaniam Badrinath (16) was run out and first innings hero  K Srivasudeva Das (1) was caught and bowled by Ajay Chauvan.

Among the other batsmen, only Hemanth Kumar and C Ganapathy, who remained unbeaten, showed some resistance. Kumar, who made 59, and Ganapathy (35) put on 80 runs in 27.5 overs for the unfinished ninth wicket.

Kanitkar (2/32) and Ranjit Khirid (2/33) were the successful bowlers.

Scoreboard:

Tamil Nadu 1st innings: 277

Maharashtra 1st innings: 175

Tamil Nadu 2nd innings:
S Vidyuth c Khirid b Kanitkar 48
D Kaarthick c Mohan b Kanitkar 58
S Sriram c Satbhai b Khirid 23
S Badrinath run out 12
S Sharath b Khirid 5
K S Vasudeva Das c and b Chauvan 1
H Kumar not out  58
M R Srinivas c Mohan b Sanklesha 9
R Ramkumar c Khirid b Khandikar 3
C Ganapathy not out 35

Extras (b:2, lb:2, nb:3)  7

Total (for 8 wickets decl. in 82 overs)  259

Fall of wickets: 1-105, 2-110, 3-138, 4-148, 5-149, 6-153, 7-170, 8-179.

Bowling: Iqbal Siddique 8-0-49-0; Anupam Sanklesha 15-5-47-1; Ajay Chauvan 12-1-37-1; Ranjit Khirid 15-5-33-2; Kashinath Khandikar 22-7-55-1; Hrishikesh Kanitkar 9-0-32-2; Parag More 1-0-2-0.