Rajasthan opener Amit Gautam slammed a brilliant unbeaten 149 (136b, 16x4, 4x6) as he put on a 177-run stand with his skipper Mahipal Lomror for the fourth wicket to stun Mumbai in the Group C match of the Vijay Hazare trophy here on Friday.
Gautam got going in style with three consecutive boundaries off Shivam Malhotra to quickly move to his 20s after Rajasthan lost opener Ankit Lamba early.
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Mumbai bowlers defending 269 did well initially with Shivam Dubey picking two quick wickets to reduce Rajasthan to 64 for three in the 19th over.
Then Gautam and Lomror got together and the duo played sensibly to just milk the bowlers around and ran hard between the wickets in the searing heat. Mumbai sat back and let the batsmen get their eye in. Gautam hit his first six to get close to his half-century and quickly stepped on the accelerator.
When on 67, Gautam was given a chance when he tried to clear the mid wicket fence towards the longest part of the ground off Jay Bista but Malhotra failed to latch on to a sitter.
At the other end, skipper Lomror too was a beneficiary off dropped catch when on 29, substitute Shams Mulani dropped another sitter at long on.
Lomoro was eventually dismissed for 81 off 77 balls but Gautam ensured there were no more hiccups as he finished off in style with a boundary.
Earlier, Siddesh Lad’s ton and Prithvi Shaw’s half-century helped Mumbai post 268 after a slow start.
Rajasthan’s Syed Khaleel Ahmed accounted for both openers - first Bista caught at slip and then a full swinging delivery to disrupt Akhil Herwadkar’s stumps.
Lad and Prithvi Shaw then came together and counterattacked as the duo took advantage of Rajasthan’s second change bowlers.
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It started with a no-ball from Shiva Chauhan that opened the sluice gates with Lad striking the free hit for a six to get his innings going. The spinners struggled to find their lengths right and kept bowling short which allowed the batsmen to cut and pull easily without trouble.
After Shaw was dismissed, Lad continued the assault at the other end hitting sixes at will with Suryakumar Yadav playing a brief cameo scoring four quick boundaries to give the run rate a push.
However, in the final 15 overs, Rajasthan bowlers pulled things back with some tight bowling and squeezed easy boundaries with Mumbai adding only 83 runs.
The score:
Mumbai 268 for eight in 50 overs (Siddhesh Lad 100, Prithvi Shaw 52, Syed Khaleel Ahmed four for 35) lost to Rajasthan 272 for four in 47.3 (Amit Gautam 149 n.o., Mahipal Lomror 81)
Points: Rajasthan 4 (4); Mumbai 0 (12).
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