One sent a strong reminder to the national selectors. The other justified their faith in him.
Together, Prithvi Shaw and Suryakumar Yadav put on an exhibition of scintillating stroke-play and helped Mumbai score a crushing 233-run victory over Pondicherry in the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day tournament here on Thursday.
The former champion’s 457 for four is now the highest total in List A cricket in India.
In the process, Shaw also broke the record for the highest score by an Indian in List A. His brilliant 227 not out (152b, 31x4, 5x6) bettered Sanju Samson’s 212 not out for Kerala against Goa in the tournament’s last edition in 2019-20.
This is the opener’s second hundred in the competition after his 105 not out against Delhi four days ago. He was also captaining the side in the absence of Shreyas Iyer, who was rested.
Astonishing knock
Suryakumar, whose admirers include Brian Lara, celebrated his maiden call up to the Indian squad for the upcoming T20I series against England, with an astonishing 58-ball 133 (22x4, 4x6) and added 201 for the third wicket with Shaw off just 103 balls.
Before that, Shaw had put on 58 for the first wicket with Yashasvi Jaiswal (10) and 153 for the second with Aditya Tare (56, 64b, 7x4).
Pondicherry could not come up with any such partnership and was bowled out for 224 in the 39th over.
In the day’s other matches in Group D, Delhi defeated Himachal Pradesh by six wickets with 11 balls to spare, while Maharashtra beat Rajasthan by 44 runs.
