Buchi Babu tournament | Shaw’s breezy ton keeps Maharashtra afloat

By the time left-hander Siddharth Mhatre inside-edged off-spinner Rishi Sharma, for the ball to rebound off his back leg onto the stumps and dislodge a bail, Prithvi Shaw was on 99 and had seen five of his partners get dismissed.

He stood hunched over his bat, staring at the ground for a few seconds, visibly disappointed. It was that sort of a second day, where his 111 (141b, 15×4, 1×6) was the lifeline of Maharashtra’s 217 in response to Chhattisgarh’s 252 in the Group-A fixture of the Buchi Babu tournament at the Guru Nanak College ground on Tuesday.

When Shaw got to his hundred off 122 balls, he’d contributed to nearly 70 per cent of his team’s total (144 for five). He began his innings in his typical aggressive fashion, contributing 55 off 53 balls to the 71-run first-wicket partnership with Sachin Dhas (10). He hit nine fours in that phase. He played the leg glance to the fine-leg boundary off pacer Sourabh Majumdar. To left-arm spinner Varun Singh Bhuie, he employed the slog sweep once, the cut twice, and the cover drive once.

As four quick wickets fell at the other end, Shaw cut left-arm spinner Shashank Tiwari for a four behind square and swept him back-to-back for two fours to the square-leg boundary to go to lunch unbeaten on 77 (91b) and his team on 111 for four.

Post lunch, he hit the only six of Maharashtra’s innings, charging at Tiwari for a straight maximum. He was stumped when he similarly charged at leg-spinner Shubham Agrawal and missed a ball that kept low and turned away.

At Gojan ‘A’, pacer C.V. Achyuth (14.3-3-51-5) produced a fine spell to help TNCA President’s XI take the first-innings lead against Himachal Pradesh.

In another match, Tushar Raheja (138, 216b, 11×4, 2×6), who topped the run charts in the TNPL, transferred his good form into red-ball cricket with a fine century for TNCA XI against Mumbai. However, despite his knock, TNCA XI conceded an 87-run lead.