Hrishikesh Kanitkar cracked a fine 131 to guide Maharashtra to 308 for five on the penultimate day of their four-day Elite Group B Ranji Trophy match against Punjab in Kolhapur on Tuesday.

Punjab had scored 550 in their first innings at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Stadium.

Resuming at 50 for one, overnight Maharashtra batsmen Dheeraj Jadhav and Kanitkar assembled 153 runs for the second wicket to put their team in a respectable position.

Jadhav hit a solid 72 before being caught. Kanitkar went ahead and scored his century and was eventually trapped leg before wicket on 131.

Kanitkar hit 14 fours in his patient knock and stayed on the wicket for 389 minutes and faced 297 balls. S Sriram missed his half century and was trapped leg before wicket for 45.

Yogesh Takwale (7) and Sairaj Bahutule (15) were at the crease when stumps were drawn.

For Punjab, Rajesh Sharma bagged 2 wickets giving away 96 runs.

Scoreboard:

Punjab first innings: 550 all out

Maharashtra first innings: (overnight 50-1)
Harshad Khadiwale lbw b Amanpreet 05
Dheeraj Jadhav c Uday Kaul b R Sharma 72
Hrishikesh Kanitkar lbw b L Ablish 131
Nikhil Paradkar c G Gupta b R Sharma 04
S Sriram lbw b I Malhotra 45
Yogesh Takwale not out 7
Sairaj Bahutule not out 15

Extras: (b-6, lb-8, w-3) 29

Total (for 5 wkts in 106 overs) 308

Fall of wicket: 1-15, 2-168, 3-176, 4-281, 5-288.

Bowling: Luv Ablish 20-03-77-1, Amanpreet Singh 15-1-37-1, Rajesh Sharma 35-9-96-2, Ishan Malhotra 15-4-26-1, Bipul Sharma 19-3-51-0, Karan Goel 2-0-7-0.