Medium pacers Vinay Kumar and NC Aiyappa shared seven wickets to skittle Maharashtra for a competitive 276 in 80.1 overs on the first day of the Ranji Super League Group ‘A’ tie here on Tuesday.
Opener Harshad Khadiwale top-scored with 96 for Maharashtra, who require an outright win to keep their semifinal hopes alive, after they were put into bat by Karnataka at the Chatrapati Shivaji Stadium.
Khadiwale stuck to his task and batted for 280 minutes and faced 182 balls as Maharashtra, after slumping to 74 for two, recovered to post 165 through a 91-run partnership between the young opener and captain Venugopala Rao (47) before sliding again to 214 for six.
D Mohan scored a quicfire 51 in 60 balls with eight fours and a six but there was little else of note in the home team’s innings after they decided to cap four players - A Shrikande, A Bawne, S Jadhav and A Joshi.
Vinay Kumar took four for 66, including the wicket of Khadiwale, who was caught behind the wicket after hitting 15 fours, while Aiyappa chipped into the middle order to finish with 3 for 70.
Veteran left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi grabbed two wickets for 69 runs. At stumps, Karnataka - who have no hopes of qualifying for the last four - were 2 without loss after playing out one over in fading light.
Karnataka made two changes to their playing 11 from the previous match against Delhi in Bangalore. Aiyappa, who was rested to recuperate from a hamstring injury, replaced S Dhananjaya while left-arm spinner KP Appanna made way for right-handed batsman Bharat Chipli.

SCORE BOARD

MAHARASHTRA (I Innings): HH Khadiwale c Naidu b Vinay 96 (280m, 182b, 15x4), AR Bawne c Naidu b Vinay 27 (60m, 53b, 5x4), AJ Shrikhande c Naidu b Aiyappa 16 (45m, 33m, 3x4), Y Venugopala Rao b Aiyappa 47 (116m, 107b, 8x4, 1x6), YV Takawale c Chipli b Joshi 15 (50m, 37b, 3x4), D Mohan c Amit Verma b Aiyappa 51 (86m, 60b, 8x4, 1x6), AS Joshi b Vinay 0 (2m, 3b), SG Jadhav c Raghu b Vinay 4 (26m, 15b, 1x4), AP Dole c Raghu b Joshi 0 (19m, 15b), SM Fallah (run out) 2 (13m, 8b), WS Sayyed (not out) 4 (16m, 10b, 1x4). Extras (B-4, LB-1, W-3, NB-6) 14. Total (all out; 86.1 overs) 276.
Fall of wkts: 1-42 (Bawne) 2-74 (Shrikhande) 3-165 (Venugopala), 4-210 (Takawale), 5-214 (Khadiwale), 6-214 (Joshi), 7-226 (Jadhav), 8-241 (Dole), 9-258 (Fallah).
Bowling: R Vinay Kumar 23-6-66-4 (w-1, nb-1), NC Aiyappa 21.1-4-70-3 (nb-4, w-2), B Chipli 5-1-14-0 (nb-1), SB Joshi 27-4-88-2, C Raghu 5-0-22-0, Amit Verma 5-1-11-0.
KARNATAKA (I Innings): Robin Uthappa (batting) 1 (4m, 1b), KB Pawan (batting) 0 (4m, 6b). Extras (NB-1) 1. Total (for no loss, 1 over) 2.
Bowling: SM Fallah 1-0-2-0 (nb-1).