Sourav Ganguly justified his inclusion in the Indian team as a batting all-rounder for the first Test against Sri Lanka, claiming a five-wicket haul for Bengal in their Elite Ranji Trophy Group A match against Maharashtra at the Nehru stadium in Pune on Wednesday.

Bowling as a first change after Bengal captain Deep Dagupta won the toss and put Maharashtra in to bat, Ganguly took five wickets for 64 runs in 22 overs.

With his gentle medium pacers, Ganguly rattled the top order although Maharashtra recovered from the early blows to post 307 for nine at stumps on day one of the four-day match.

Interestingly, the recovery was staged by fast bowler Munaf Patel, who scored 78 with seven fours and four sixes on his debut for Maharashtra after switching over from Mumbai.

Patel was due to play for Board President's XI against the Sri Lankans in a three-day match, starting on November 26 at Bangalore, but preferred to stay on and play in this match.

Maharashtra wicket-keeper Satyajit Satbhai was another notable contributor for his team, making 47 runs, inclusive of seven fours.

Bengal medium pacer S S Paul took one wicket and spinner Saurashish Lahiri claimed two.

Scorecard

Maharashtra (1st innings):
M Nigde b Ganguly 34
Y Pawar b Paul 15
H Kanitkar lbw b Ganguly 0
A Kale c Lahiri b Ganguly 33
D Mohan lbw b Ganguly 18
S Bahutule run out (sub SS Sing) 23
S Satbhai c Arindam Das b Lahiri 47
Munaf Patel c Arindam Das b Lahiri 78
A Sanclecha not out 28
Suiyash Gorkole c Dasgupta b Ganguly 5
R Jadhav not out 0.
Extras: (b 7, lb 3, nb 16) 26
Total: (9 wickets, 90 overs) 307

Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-31, 3-55, 4-116, 5-122, 6-172, 7-224, 8-284, 9-306.

Bowling: Paul 13-4-37-1 (1nb), Ashok Jinda 20-2-94-0 (5nb), Ganguly 22-3-64-5 (8nb), Sanyal 12-2-28-0 (1nb), Lahiri 20-7-63-2, Gavaskar 3-0-11-0.