Mumbai effortlessly chased down 313 in just 41.3 overs to get over the line against Uttar Pradesh in the finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy on Sunday to lift their fourth T20 title. Led by a quick 73 off 39 deliveries from Prithvi Shaw and an unbeaten 118 from Aditya Tare, Mumbai never looked in trouble as they registered a win with six wickets to spare.
Shaw, the standout batsman in the tournament, ended the season with 827 runs at an average of 165.40 with the help of one double ton, two other hundreds and another fifty. He became the only player in the history of the competition to score over 800 runs, and silenced managed to vehemently silence his critics after a poor IPL and Australia tour. It was the first instance in this edition when the young gun was dismissed for less than a hundred when leading the Mumbai side.
Shaw started with a four and was handed a lifeline when Karan Sharma dropped a simple catch in the second over. Shaw, on 12 at that point, took full use of the opportunity as he scored 12 runs in the over and 14 off the next. Yashasvi Jaiswal, his opening partner, hit three fours in the sixth over to ensure that the asking rate never got out of reach. Shaw eventually reached his fifty in just 30 balls but was dismissed by a well-directed bouncer by his Under-19 teammate Shivam Mavi. However, Mumbai were in a commanding position by then and needed another 224 runs from 40.5 balls to win the tournament.
Tare started from where his skipper left off. He smashed 16 runs off the first 10 balls he faced. Though Jaiswal was sent back soon afterwards by Shivam Sharma for 29, Tare refused to play watchfully. Along with Shams Mulani, he notched up a quick 88 in 15.3 overs. Tare reached his fifty in 51 deliveries and took another 40 balls to record a memorable ton.
Earlier in the day, Madhav Kaushik had scored an unbeaten 158 to help Uttar Pradesh to a commanding position after they won the toss and opted to bat. Opening the innings, Kaushik and Samarth Singh put on 122 runs for the first wicket in 26 overs, and showed their determination despite a brilliant bowling spell from Tushar Deshpande and Dhawal Kulkarni up front.
Uttar Pradesh were tied down initially as they scored nine runs in seven overs, with Kaushik taking 24 balls to get off the mark. However, three boundaries off Kulkarni by Kaushik in the eighth over broke the shackles as Uttar Pradesh picked up the rate.
The pair breached the 100-run mark in 24 overs before Samarth was dismissed for 55. Captain Karan was sent back soon after, but Kaushik first combined with Priyam Garg and then Akshdeep Nath to take his team over the 300-run mark.
Brief scores:
Uttar Pradesh 312/4 in 50 overs (Madhav Kaushik 158*, Samarth Shah 55, Akshdeep Nath 55; Tanush Kotian 2-54) lost to Mumbai 315/4 in 41.3 overs (Aditya Tae 118*, Prithvi Shaw 73; Sameer Choudhary 1-43) by 6 wickets with 51 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Aditya Tare.