Winners of the trophy in the inaugural year (1933-34), Mumbai had their only consolation in the form of a first innings lead. They eventually finished fourth, ahead of Gujarat. Baroda, who scored an outright win over Gujarat in Surat, clinched the Talim Shield. Saurashtra and Maharashtra are the other two teams qualifying for the Super League.

Maharashtra, who were 151 runs in arrears, erased the same in the 52nd over with skipper Surendra Bhave and newly promoted Mandar Sane denying the visitors any qualifying chance, with their 134-run partnership. The game was called off after nine mandatory overs were bowled. Maharashtra were 287 for four with Abhijit Kale (20) and Shantanu Sugwekar (34) at the crease.

Mumbai, who have won the championship 33 of the 36 timesthey made it to the final, had earlier failed to make it to the Super League grade in 1977-78.``We will come back with a vengeance next year,'' was the parting shot of Mumbai coach Ashok Mankad. ``We have to accept the defeat, and take cognisance of our drawback before we begin our campaign next year.''Commenting on the batting, he mentioned that the top order, despite setting a strong foundation, failed to capitalise on it.

``Amit Pagnis is our best bet and Samir Dhige gave us some glimpses of getting back into the game. But by that time it was too late for us.''``It's hard to believe that we have lost the race in the championship, but we have to accept, that our opponents played better than us,'' said Mumbai's captain Vinod Kambli.

``The game plan worked and Sane's promotion has also clicked,'' said Maharashtra skipper Bhave who was unlucky to miss out on another hundred, falling short by eight runs. Incidentally, this is the fifth time Bhave was been out in 90s, and the third time againstMumbai.

Mumbai bowlers did their bit this morning but sloppy fielding saw three catches being put down. Sane was dropped twice on 13, by Wasim Jaffer in second slip and later, Sairaj Bahutule failed to accept a return catch. Sandeep Dhad, the pick of the bowlers for the visitors, dropped Abhijit Kale when the batsman was on 13.

SCOREBOARD

Maharashtra 1st innings: 335

Mumbai 1st innings: 486

Maharashtra 2nd innings: (overnight 53 for one) Surendra Bhave b Bahutule (229m, 169b 17x4) 92; Mandar Sane c Bahutule b Kambli (338m, 249b, 9x4) 78; Siddharth Godbole c&b Bahutule (99m, 74b, 4x4) 32; Abhijit Kale not out (100m, 101b, 3x4) 20; Shantanu Sugwekar not out (67m, 65b, 5x4) 34. Extras: (b9, lb5, nb11) 25

Total: (for four wickets in 110 overs) 287.

Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-156, 3-213, 4-231.

Bowling: Paras Mhambrey 17-1-52-1 (nb4), Sandeep Dhad 9-3-30-0 (nb3), Abey Kuruvilla 10-4-23-0 (nb3), Nilesh Kulkarni 28-9-56-0, Sairaj Bahutule 33-16-55-2, Manoj Joglekar 6-0-23-0, Vinod Kambli6-0-30-1 (nb1), Samir Dighe 1-0-4-0.