Punjab were in a commanding position against Maharashtra on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elte Group B match in Mohali on Saturday.

After bowling out the visitors for a meagre 123 in 41.3 overs, they finished the day on 174 without loss in the first innings, 51 runs ahead.

At stumps, Ravneet Ricky (77) and Reetinder Sodhi (89) were at the crease.

Punjab won the toss and put in Maharashtra to bat. The visitors failed to put together a single decent partnership as they lost wickets at regular intervals.

In fact, only five of their batsmen could get into double figures. Thanks to 21 extras, they were able to finish on 123.

VRV Singh (4 for 45) and Reetinder Sodhi (3 for 23) did the damage.

Scoreboard

Maharashtra (1st innings):
D Jadhav lbw Sharma 2
N Godbole c Gupta b Sodhi 23
H Kanitkar c Dharmani b Singh 15
K Marathe lbw Sodhi 10
K Aphale lbw Sodhi 2
D Mohan c Yuvraj Singh b Singh 1
S Satbhai b Singh 0
R D Khirid not out 31
I Siddiqui b Singh 0
K Adhav c Dharmani b Uniyal 18
A Sanclecha b Uniyal 0

Extras: (b 1, lb 13, nb 7) 21

Total: (all out, 41.3 overs, 202 mins) 123

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-45, 3-61, 4-64, 5-65, 6-69, 7-69, 8-69, 9-123.

Bowling: Sharma 7- 3- 9-1, Singh 14-3-45-4 (2nb), Uniyal 7.3-2-22-2, Sodhi 11-3-23-3 (1nb), Navdeep Singh 2-0-10-0.

Punjab (1st innings):
R Ricky not out 77
R S Sodhi not out 89.

Extras: (nb 8) 8

Total: (for no wicket, 46 overs) 174

To bat: D Mongia, P Dharmani, Yuvraj Singh, A Kakkar, G Gupta, Navdeep Singh, A Uniyal, V Singh, V Sharma.

Bowling: Siddiqui 9-1-45-0, Sanclecha 12-0-54-0 (1nb), Khirid 13-3-35-0 (6nb), Adhav 9 4-29-0, Kanitkar 3-0-11-0 (1nb).