New Delhi: Riding on Aditya Tare’s brilliant century (118) and captain Prithvi Shaw’s blazing fifty (73), Mumbai beat Uttar Pradesh by six wickets in the final to lift the Vijay Hazare Trophy at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, here on Sunday.
This is Mumbai’s fourth Vijay Hazare title and the one to remember for Shaw (827 runs), who now holds the record for highest runs scored in single edition of this competition.
Chasing a target of 313 to win, Mumbai were looking for a strong start and skipper Prithvi Shaw and Yashasvi Jaiswal did that to perfection.
The duo of Shaw-Jaiswal put up an 89-run stand for the opening wicket. While Jaiswal was watchful, Shaw pretty aggressive as he hammered 73 off 39 balls with the help of 10 fours and 4 sixes before Shivam Mavi dismissed him in the 10th over.
Aditya Tare, who replaced Shaw in the middle, was quick to get off the blocks as he and Jaiswal added 38 runs together in 34 balls before Jaiswal got out for 29.
Jaiswal’s departure brought Shams Mulani in the middle and the two kept the scorecard ticking and did not let Uttar Pradesh build pressure. The Tare-Mulani pair added 88 runs before Mulani, after scoring 36 off 43 balls, was dismissed by Yash Dayal in the 31st over.
Tare though continued in the same vein and brought up a superb ton in 91 balls in the summit clash and was involved in another vital partnership with Shivam Dube, adding 88 runs before the left-hander, who scored 42 off 28 balls, got out after Mumbai crossed the 300-run mark.
The former skipper Tare played a back cut between point and short third man to took Mumbai home.
Earlier, after put in to bowl, Mumbai bowlers - Dhawal Kulkarni and Tushar Deshpande - kept the things tight and conceded only nine runs in the first seven overs.
However, the UP’s opening pair Samarth Singh and Madhav Kaushik upped the ante and scored 59 runs in the next 9 overs to take their side close to 70.
The two batsmen completed a 100-run stand in the 24th over and Kaushik brought up his fifty in the same over. Two overs later, Samarth Singh also moved past his fifty. However, he got out in the same over as Prashant Solanki gave Mumbai their first wicket.
The Prithvi Shaw-led struck once again in the 27th over as Tanush Kotian dismissed Uttar Pradesh skipper and in-form batsman Karan Sharma for zero. While Kaushik and Priyam Garg added 38 runs, Kotian broke the partnership as he got Garg out for 21 in the 35th over.
Kaushik was then joined by Aksh Deep Nath and the two added 128 runs together. While Aksh Deep Nath scored his second successive fifty, Kaushik notched up a fine ton in an all-important ton.
The partnership was broken in the penultimate over when Aksh Deep Nath was run out after scoring a brisk 55.
In the end, Kaushik, who scored an unbeaten 158 off 156 balls with the help of 15 fours and 4 sixes, took Uttar Pradesh to 312/4. Kaushik’s knock is now the most number of runs scored by a batsman in the finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Brief Scores: Mumbai 315/4 (Aditya Tare 118*, Prithvi Shaw 73; Sameer Choudhary 1/43) beat Uttar Pradesh 312/4 (Madhav Kaushik 158*, Aksh Deep Nath 55; Tanush Kotian 2/54) by six wickets. (UNI)
