A staunch hundred from Abhijit Kale could not prevent Maharashtra from crashing to a six-wicket loss against Baroda in their Ranji Trophy league match at Pune on Tuesday.

Overnight on 224/3, Maharashtra had given themselves a good chance of achieving at least a draw, if not an outright win. The last seven wickets, however, fell for 64 runs, giving Baroda the upper hand in the match.

KD Aphale was the first of the overnight pair to go, making 71 off 106 balls. Kale, his partner, stayed until he was the ninth wicket to fall, but he did not receive any support from the lower order. He made 115 off 204 balls, hitting six fours and one six in his knock. The main destroyer for Baroda was Zaheer Khan, who picked up five wickets.

Set a target of 230 for victory, Baroda made short work of it. A 99 from opener Connor Williams, to go with his first innings century, saw Baroda off to a good start. With SS Parab scoring 53, the first-wicket stand of 125 off 30.4 overs almost sealed the game for Baroda.

Jacob Martin made an unbeaten 32 and Atul Bedade hit a whirlwind 24 off six balls to take Baroda to their six-wicket win, achieveing their target for the loss of four wickets in 57 overs.

© CricInfo