Defending champions Maharashtra retained both the boys and girls titles in the 39th Junior National Kho Kho Championships in Surat on Thursday.
The Maharashtra boys defeated Kolhapur 13-12 with three and half minutes to spare on the clock while the girls got the better of Karnataka 9-7 in the finals.
The Kolhapur boys would have felt confident when they claimed seven Maharashtra wickets in the first innings only for the defending champions to hit back with a score of 9. Maharashtra then completed their second innings, losing just five runners and it meant that they needed just four points to clinch the crown.
They did that in style with their defenders using the front faks and dives to score points. Dilip Khandavi was the star of the match as he took 2 wickets in each innings while being exceptionally brilliant on the defensive front too. Dilip defended for a total of 4 minutes in both the innings.
Later, the girls led 5-3 after the first innings and then maintained the two point advantage to bag the trophy.
Reshma Rathod put up an all round show as she took two crucial wickets for Maharashtra in the second innings and also defended for 5 minutes and 40 seconds in both the innings.
Dilip and Janvi Pethe of Maharashtra girls team were adjudged as the best players of the tournament and were awarded the Veer Abhimanyu award and Janaki award respectively.