Sugwekar's knock of 210 elevated the hosts to complete today's scorecard at 391 for eight, a lead of 270 runs.

Along the way was a seventh wicket partnership of 178 runs, off 312 balls, for the seventh wicket, alongwith wicket-keeper Sanjay Khondalkar (60). The 202 minute partnership saw the scoreboard at 369.

It was a very hard lesson for the Gujarat players, especially since they had let off Sugwekar off the first ball he faced yesterday, and again later today when he was dropped by Mihir Seth at extra-cover, off the bowling of Hiren Patel on 113. Except for those two close calls, Sugwekar was atreat to watch. His cover drive both off the backfoot and the frontfoot was a beauty and timing astounding.

SCOREBOARD
Gujarat (1st innings): 221

Maharashtra (1st innings): (Overnight 122-3) Shantanu Sugwekar batting 210, Mandar Sane c P Patel b L Patel 4, Siddharth Godbole c Varsani b B Patel 4, Satyen Lande lbw L Patel 5, Sanjay Khondalkar c Modi b H Patel 60, Iqbal Siddique c Varsani b H Patel 3, Milind Kulkarni batting 0; Extras (b4, lb1, nb8): 13. Total (for three wkts in 40 overs): 122.

Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-88, 3-103, 4-141, 5-150, 6-191, 7-369, 8-391.Bowling: L Patel 27.2-4-71-2, B Patel 30-8-87-3, Seth 16-1-62-1, Mehta 15-3-43-0, H Patel 28-5-101-2, Kotecha 8-1-22-0.

Bhatt slams ton
BARODA: Middle order batsman Prakash Bhatt compiled a career best 180 and Jagish Dhamecha made a superb 90 to put Saurashta in a commanding position against Baroda on the second day of the West Zone Ranji Trophy league match at IPCL Sports ComplexGround here today.

SCOREBOARD
Saurashtra (first innings): Sudhir Tanna c Arothe b Wakaskar 14, Altaf Merchany c&b Kadri 10, Sitanshu Kotak c Mulherkar b Arothe 54, Bimal Jadeja c Mongia b Swaroop 9, Prakash Bhatt lbw Wakaskar 180, Hitesh Parsana c Wakaskar b Mulherkar 10, Manoj Parmar lbw Wakaskar 28, Niraj Odedra c Jacob b Wakaskar 15, Rajesh Garsondia c Dave b Swaroop 6, Jagoish Damecha c Martin b Wakaskar 90, Narendra Rana not out 8; Extras (by1, lb7, w11): 19. Total (all out in 178.2 overs): 443

Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-27, 3-47, 4-121, 5-141, 6-204, 7-237, 8-272, 9-428, 10-443.

Bowling: Wakaskar 37.2-10-60-5, Kadri 32-8-84-1, Bedade 8-3-17-0, Swaroop 45-16-71-2, Mulherkar 19-0-75-1, T Arothe 33-4-110-1, J Maryin 4-0-18-0.

Baroda (first innings): Connors Williams batting 2, Prayan Dave c Kotak b Garsondia 0, Dulherkar batting 0. Total (for 1 wkt in 6 overs): 2.Fall of wictkets: 1-1.

Bowling: Garsondia 3-2-1-1, Rana 3-2-1-0.