A five-wicket haul from India seamer Iqbal Siddiqui helped Maharashtra reduce Saurashtra to 288 for nine on the opening day of the West Zone Ranji match between the two sides at the Nehru Stadium, Pune.

The fact that most of the visiting batsmen failed to build on their starts after Maharashtra had put them in proved to be the former's undoing. RV Dhruv who made 50 off 82 balls and opener PP Joshi who made 47 off 64 balls were the top two scorers for Saurashtra.

For Maharashtra, Siddiqui, a left-arm seamer who made his Test debut for India in the recent Mohali Test, claimed 5 for 92, while Hrishkesh Kanitakar, claimed 2 for 41, with his gentle off-spinners. Suyash Burkul, the 20-year-old right-arm medium-pacer making his Ranji debut claimed the other wicket to fall on the day.

© Cricinfo