At the Poona Club, taking the second new ball, Maharashtra seamers Hrishikesh Shinde and Pallav Inamdar needed just nine deliveries to bowl out the visitors, 12 behind their first innings total of 254.

And when stumps were drawn for the last time in the match, Maharashtra were 255 for six in the second knock after the completion of nine mandatory overs.

``The bowlers played the trick with the new ball,'' said Anwar Shaikh, the former Maharashtra seamer and host coach. ``That was a gamble I wanted to play, but it back fired,'' he said about his team batting first after winning the toss.

``These five points have come as a morale booster to the boys and I am sure Maharashtra will make it to the knock-out stage after so many years,'' added Anwar who himself took 150 wickets for Maharashtra in Ranji cricket.

Gujarat coach Anil Patel was of the opinion that his team did not apply itself while batting. ``I always said this wicket will see long innings if the batsmen have patience. But my boys lacked this and that is why we failed this morning,'' said Patel.

The semi-finalists in the last edition, Gujarat take on Mumbai in Mumbai while Maharashtra play Saurashtra in Rajkot from November 3-5. Maharashtra precured five points Gujarat 3 points.

When play resumed this morning, Pranav Inamdar ended Gujarat skipper Kevin Desai's innings with the very first delivery of the day and Hrishikesh Shinde completed the formalities in the three balls that followed.

Maharashtra lost first innings hero Rizwan Anwar Shaikh without opening their account. But a patient knock of 76 by Maharashtra skipper Dhiraj Jadhav and a swashbuckling 53 by Pankaj Phalke boosted their image after Vivek Deshmukh put on 66 runs for the second wicket with Dhiraj Jadhav.

Pankaj who toyed with the bowlers raced to his 50, smacking Kevin Desai over the Poona Club for a mighty six. His short stint at the wicket also included ten hits to the fence.

However, Kevin Desai had the last laugh when Pankaj Phakle, trying to lift him out of the ground, ended up holing out to Vimal Patel at long-on. Kevin Desai, who bowled unchanged after Gujarat seamers bowled ten overs each, was the most successful of the bowlers. He logged four for 80 in his 27 over spell.

Scoreboard
Maharashtra 1 St innings: 254.
Gujarat 1st innings: (Overnight 238 for seven) Kevin Desai b Pranav Inamdar (32m, 3x4, 27b) 16; Siddharth Trivedi c Satyajit Satbhai b Hrishikesh Shinde (32m, 2x4, 19b) 14; Ankit Patel not out 0; Vipul Patel c Satyajit Satbhai b Hrishikesh Shinde (2m, 1x4, 2b) 4.
Extras: (lb 4, w 8, nb 8) 20.
Total: (All out 83.3 OVERS) 242.
Fall-of-Wickets: 1-35 (8.3 overs), 2-78 (26.5), 3-121 (42.1), 5-190 (69.3), 6-203 (74.4), 7-208 (75.4), 8-238, 9-238.
Bowling: Hrushikesh Shinde 16.3-1-58-3, Pranav Inamdar 11-2-34-2, Vedant Patwardhan 4-1-7-0, Rizwan Anwar Shaikh 15-4-39-0, Mrugank Rathi 26-8-68-3, Vivek Deshmukh 9-2-25-2, Rohan Dharwat 2-0-7-0.

Maharashtra 2nd Innings : Rizwan Anwar Shaikh c Pallav Vora b Vipul Patel (5m, 5b) 0; Dhiraj Jadhav b Vivek Gandhi (282m 8x4, 226b ) 76; Vivek Deshmukh b Kevin Desai (97m, 5x4, 82b) 37; Pankaj Phalke c Vimal Patel b Kevin Desai (76m, 10x4, 1x6, 67b) 53; Kapil Laghate c&b Kevin Desai (8m, 9b) 01; Vedant Patwardhan c (sub) A Christain b Kevin Desai (123m, 5x4, 2x6, 83b) 45, Rohan Dharwat not out (41m, 4x4, 34b) 28; Satyajit Satbhai not out (10m, 1x4, 4b) 04.
Extras: (l4, lb 7) 11.
Total: (for 7 wkts) 255.
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (0.5overs), 2-66 (24.5), 3-134 (46.5), 4-136 (48.3), 5-214 (75.2), 6-236 (82.4).
Bowling: Vipul Patel 10-2-30-1, Siddharth Trivedi 10-2-27-0, Ankit Patel 24-8-68-0, Kevin Desai 27-8-80-4, Vivek Gandhi 14-2-39-1.