Mumbai’s marauding run in the Vijay Hazare Trophy showed no signs of ending as it hammered Goa by seven wickets at the Just Cricket Ground near here on Tuesday.
Opener Akhil Herwadkar scored a fine century (108 n.o., 112b, 11x4, 4x6) as Mumbai chased down the 187-run target with little to no trouble to record its sixth win of the tournament.
Herwadkar was circumspect initially, his fellow opener Jay Bista (32, 25b, 4x4, 1x6) doing the bulk of the scoring. After the first three overs only yielded five runs, Bista broke the shackles by launching paceman Lakshay Garg for a huge six behind square on the leg side. He would follow that up with back-to-back fours in Lakshay’s next over to assume full control of the chase.
Herwadkar steals the show
However, once he was out caught top-edging a pull off Krishna Das, it was Herwadkar all the way. But for an edge which flew between the wicket-keeper and first slip early on, it was a chanceless innings.
That he took 76 balls to get to his half-century, as the two left-arm spinners in Darshan Misal and Amulya Pandrekar bowled miserly spells, didn’t matter much.
From 50 to 100, he was at his extravagant best, consuming just 34 balls. Pandrekar, who at one stage had conceded just 22 runs from seven overs, ended with figures of 55 runs from 9.3 overs. Herwadkar alone scored a whopping 45 of those.
What stood out was his footwork as he danced down the pitch and hit the hapless Pandrekar for four massive sixes straight down, with three of them easily clearing the ground. In fact, Herwadkar collected 27 runs from his final seven balls to flatten Goa.
Verma shines with the bat
Earlier, Goa, which elected to bat, owed its total to No.4 bat Amit Verma (49, 73b, 4x4, 1x6) and then Suyash Prabhudessai (52, 56b, 4x4, 1x6). After being reduced to seven for two and then 37 for three, Verma set about rebuilding the innings in the company of ‘keeper Keenan (29, 57b).
But Shams Mulani’s two-wicket burst, trapping both batsmen leg-before while playing on the backfoot, halted Goa’s ascent. Prabhudessai’s innings only saved Goa from sheer embarrassment.
Maharashtra suffers first defeat
At the Alur Ground, Maharashtra suffered its first defeat in the competition, losing to Vidarbha by three wickets. But with 20 points from six matches, it is well-placed to qualify for the quarterfinals alongside Mumbai (26 points from seven).
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