Prithvi continues his rich form to help Mumbai reach Vijay Hazare summit clash after bowlers' good show in rain hit match
In form Prithvi Shaw and skipper Shreyas Iyer smashed half-centuries as Mumbai brushed aside Hyderabad by 60 runs in a rain-marred contest to move to the summit clash of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, here on Wednesday.
Chasing 247, Mumbai were placed comfortably at 155 for two when rain halted play. Iyer (55 not out) and Ajinkya Rahane (17) were at the crease with their unbeaten third wicket stand of 73 runs.
The game never resumed after that and Mumbai were declared winners via VJD method.
Left-arm spinner Mehdi Hasan struck twice, dismissing openers Rohit Sharma (17) and Shaw (61 off 44 balls) to leave Mumbai at 82 for two after their 73-run opening stand.
Chasing 247 to seal final spot, unbeaten in the tournament, domestic powerhouse Mumbai started chase in fashion with teenage prodigy Prithvi Shaw resuming his innings where he last left against Railways at the same very ground in Bengaluru before moving to make his Test debut for India.
Shaw, who tried to start with a big hit in the very ball of Mumbai innings, smashed two boundaries in the third over bowled by Akash Bhandari and from there he never looked back to slow the pace of his destructive innings.
While the entire limelight was on seasoned campaigner Rohit Sharma, who was expected to play a big knock before leaving to join Indian squad for the five-match ODI series starting Sunday at Guwahati. Shaw enjoyed the freedom of playing shots and while he was struggling with a shoulder issue, the young sensation didn't restrict pain to overpower will hard hitting.
However he was quiet lucky when in the seventh over bowled by Mohammed Siraj he was dropped twice by Ravi Kiran.
Prithvi made good use of the two chances and went on to hit two consecutive sixes to Siraj in his next over to complete his fourth fifty plus score in this year's tournament in as many games.
But on the other end, Mumbai's another star on the field Rohit couldn't make much use of the opportunity to get match practice before resuming national duty and was bowled by Mehdi Hasan for 17 of 24 balls in the fifth ball of tenth over.
Hasan strikes again in the next over and this time he caught big fish Prithvi Shaw in the similar fashion, who was also sent to the dugout leaving Mumbai's scorecard read 82 for 2 in 11.5 overs.
Shaw's knock had eight fours and two sixes. The teenaged batting had hit a century on Test debut in Rajkot against West Indies. He amassed 237 runs in the series with an average of 118.50 and strike rate of 94.04 to be adjudged Man-of-the-series.
However after that skipper Shreyas Iyer and Ajinkya Rahane batted sensibly and didn't allow Hyderabadi bowlers to do much damage.
Earlier, Hyderabad posted 246 for eight after Rohit Rayudu scored a 132-ball 121, which went in vain.
The knock was studded with eight boundaries and four sixes.
Hyderabad had a dismal start with openers Tanmay Agarwal (11) and Akshath Reddy (7) returning to the pavilion early.
Rayudu and Bavanaka Sandeep (29) then stitched a vital 50-run stand for the third wicket.
Tail-ender Mehdi Hassan made 23 off 17 to help Hyderabad put on board a respectable total.
For Mumbai, Tushar Deshpande was the lead wicket-taker with three wickets for 55 runs and Royston Dias bagged two for 43.
Pacer Dhawal Kulkarni, Shivam Dubey and Shams Mulani snapped a wicket each.
Brief Scores
Mumbai 155/2 (Prithvi Shaw 61, Shreyas Iyer 55 not out; Mehdi Hassan 2/23) beat Hyderabad 246/8 (Rohit Rayudu 121 not out, Bavanaka Sandeep 29; Tushar Deshpande 3/55) by 60 runs (VJD Method).