Mumbai’s Parsad Pawar plays a shot, during the Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Saurashtra, at the Alur KSCA cricket stadium, in Bengaluru on December 1, 2023.
| Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR
Defending champion Saurashtra is all but out of the 2023-24 Vijay Hazare Trophy after a five-wicket loss to Mumbai at the Alur Cricket Stadium here on Friday.
Yet another below-par effort with the willow meant that Jaydev Unadkat’s men could only muster 144 runs after being asked to bat.
In reply, Mumbai wobbled a bit, reduced as it was to 76 for five. But a 74-run unbroken sixth-wicket stand between Prasad Pawar (43 n.o., 63b, 4×4, 1×6) and Shardul Thakur (39 n.o., 44b, 2×4, 2×6) carried the side to its fifth straight win and handed Saurashtra its third defeat in five matches.
Mumbai’s Shardul Thakur plays a shot during the Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Saurashtra, at the Alur KSCA cricket stadium, in Bengaluru on December 1, 2023.
| Photo Credit:
K. MURALI KUMAR
Shardul and Pawar were watchful initially, so much so that there was a phase where they didn’t score a boundary for 11 overs. But once the total crossed 100, the duo let loose. Shardul pulled Unadkat for a four and then smashed Ankur Panwar for two maximums. Pawar brought proceedings to a close with a six over long-on off Dharmendrasinh Jadeja.
Shardul’s was, in fact, an all-round effort. Added to the Mumbai squad ahead of the game after a short period of rest to recover from the World Cup exertion, the pacer scalped two wickets (2/37) in the morning.
If not for Cheteshwar Pujara’s dogged batting (55 n.o., 114b, 5×4, 1×6), Mumbai would have wrapped up the win much earlier. In the absence of Sheldon Jackson — who, in a rare move, was dropped after totalling just 11 runs from four innings — Pujara held Saurashtra aloft.
BENGALURU KARNATAKA 01/12/2023 : Saurashtra’s Cheteshwar Pujara plays a shot during the Vijay Hazare Trophy match between Mumbai vs Saurashtra, at Alur KSCA cricket stadium, in Bengaluru on December 01, 2023. Photo MURALI KUMAR K / The Hindu
| Photo Credit:
MURALI KUMAR K
The 35-year-old was reprieved twice — dropped by ‘keeper Pawar off speedster Mohit Avasthi when on 10 and adjudged leg-before to Shardul when on 41 only for it to be a no-ball. He capitalised by bringing up his half-century with a pulled six and a heaved four. That he received no support from his teammates proved Saurashtra’s undoing.