Riding on a belligerent knock from Prithvi Shaw, Mumbai cruised to a nine-wicket victory over Baroda in its opening Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day tournament match, at Alur grounds in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Chasing 239, Mumbai moved to the driver’s seat after a 66-ball 98 from opener Shaw. The young batsman blasted 12 fours and five sixes, as he flayed the Baroda attack to all parts of the ground.
Shaw took a special liking to the left-arm spin trio of Bhargav Bhatt, Swapnil Singh and Krunal Pandya. He created a buzz when he swept Bhargav over deep mid-wicket, and into the scorer’s box. The power on his shot saw the ball shatter the glass pane in the box, sending the scorers scurrying for cover. The 18-year-old then greeted Swapnil with
an identical shot, and this time, he bettered his previous hit by landing on the clubhouse terrace. Shaw reserved his best for a few overs later, when he smacked Krunal onto the adjacent ground.
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As it happened at the Vijay Hazare Trophy
He was adept at keeping his shots along the ground as well, finding the gap between sweeper-cover and long-off regularly with fluent drives. His entertaining essay came to an end, two short of a century, when he chipped one back to the bowler Krunal.
Mumbai skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who was part of the Indian Test team in England, played a steady hand. An unbeaten 102-run second-wicket stand between Rahane (79 n.o., 116b) and Shreyas Iyer (56 n.o., 67b) took Mumbai home.
Earlier, Baroda struggled to judge the pace of the pitch, and could manage only a modest total. Krunal (85, 111b, 8x2, 2x4) and Yusuf Pathan (40, 45b, 3x4, 2x6) looked in control during their 70-run fifth-wicket partnership, before Pathan was dismissed caught-behind.
Krunal soldiered on, but perished late attempting a slog. Experienced Mumbai pacer Dhawal Kulkarni (four for 39) was the most successful bowler, while debutant left-arm spinner Vijay Dilip (7-1-20-2) showed that the traditional qualities of flight and dip can prove to be a
handful for adventurous batters.
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The match was briefly interrupted when a couple of spectators charged onto the pitch and took selfies with batsmen Shaw and Rahane. The offenders made a quick escape before angry groundstaff members and KSCA officials could intervene.
In another encounter, Shubman Gill (115, 131b, 6x4, 4x6) powered Punjab past a fighting Himachal Pradesh. Himachal Pradesh’s chase of 291 was derailed after the dismissal of opener Prashant Chopra (95, 122b) in the 42nd over.
Jay Pande's unbeaten 117 helped Maharashtra notch up a comfortable five-wicket win over Goa.
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