Vijay Hazare Trophy | Prithvi Shaw’s century-spree continues

Mumbai dethrones Karnataka, takes on Uttar Pradesh in final

Simply unstoppable: Prithvi Shaw took time to settle down and then rode his luck to notch up a match-winning knock for Mumbai.

Skipper Prithvi Shaw continued his relentless onslaught with a 122-ball 165 as Mumbai dethroned Karnataka by inflicting a 72-run defeat in the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Thursday for a place in Sunday’s final against Uttar Pradesh.

Shaw’s fourth century of this year’s competition saw Mumbai set a stiff target of 323. The Karnataka top-order failed to fire and with Samarth and Manish Pandey falling cheaply, the chase was never on.

Asked to bat, Mumbai had the better of the exchanges as Shaw took six overs to settle down and then rode his luck. Dropped at 38 by Devdutt Padikkal at cover off Shreyas Gopal, Shaw prospered to play a match-winning innings studded with 17 boundaries and seven sixes. He was particularly severe on Shreyas whom he hit for two sixes.

Ronit More went for 20 runs in the 37th over with Shaw smashing 16 and Shams Mulani (45, 4x4) hitting a four.

Century stand

Shaw and Mulani raised 159 off 23.4 overs for the third wicket before departing in successive overs. In fact, Mumbai traded eight wickets for 81 runs in the last 10 overs. Medium pacer Vyshak Vijay (4/56), who trapped Shaw leg-before, was the only Karnataka bowler to make any impact.

When Karnataka chased, only Padikkal (64, 64b, 6x4, 1x6) and B.R. Sharath (61, 39b, 8x4, 2x6) provided some hope. With five wickets down for 152 in the 31st over, Karnataka was staring at defeat.

Though the next 12 overs produced nearly 100 runs, Mumbai was happy to bowl out the opposition. Off-spinner Tanush Kotian stood out with figures of 10-1-23-2.

Akshdeep bats well

The other semifinal, too, proved one-sided with Uttar Pradesh stopping Gujarat with five wickets and 7.2 overs to spare. After Akshdeep Nath (71, 8x4) led the chase, Upendra Yadav (31 not out) provided the finishing touches a six and a four in succession.

The scores: Mumbai 322 in 49.2 overs (Prithvi Shaw 165, Shams Mulani 45, Vyshak Kumar 4/56) bt Karnataka 250 in 42.4 overs (Devdutt Paddikkal 64, B.R. Sharath 61).

Gujarat 184 in 48.1 overs (Het Patel 60) lost to Uttar Pradesh 188/5 in 42.4 overs (Akshdeep Nath 71) .