Prithvi Shaw guides Mumbai to victory in the Vijay Hazare Trophy

Mumbai sealed their fourth Vijay Hazare trophy after beating Uttar Pradesh by six wickets in the final at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Prithvi Shaw led from the front for this Mumbai side and scored an outstanding 73 off 39 balls in the final to set up the victory for his team. After being dropped from the Indian team following his disastrous tour of Australia, Shaw has worked on his game with Delhi Capitals coach Pravin Amre and reaped the rewards with a fantastic Vijay Hazare season.

The Mumbai captain was a cut above the rest throughout the tournament and ended up as the leading run-scorer with 827 runs. He now holds the record for the most runs scored by a batsman in a single Vijay Hazare season, surpassing Mayank Agarwal’s total of 723 which he managed in 2017-18. Shaw had an atmospheric average of 165.4 in the tournament along with a strike rate of 138 and hit four centuries including a stunning double hundred against Pondicherry which was the highest score in the history of the competition.

In the final against UP, he got Mumbai off to a flying start in their chase and got to his 50 off only 30 deliveries. He was eventually dismissed for 73 from 39 balls which was the first time he fell before reaching a century while captaining Mumbai in this tournament. Shaw helped Mumbai to a total of 89 within the first 9 overs and Aditya Tare managed to capitalise on the fast start given by the openers and scored an important century which took Mumbai home. He was aided by crucial cameos from Shams Mulani (36) and Shivam Dube (42) which helped Mumbai seal their fourth Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Uttar Pradesh had set up a total of 312 in their batting innings thanks to a wonderful knock from opener Madhav Kaushik who scored 158*. Kaushik was well supported by Akshdeep Nath and Samarth Singh who scored 55 runs each but they failed to put on a big total that could challenge the batting power of Mumbai.

Mumbai’s trump cards with the ball throughout this tournament has been leg-spinner Prashant Solanki as well as veteran pacer Dhawal Kulkarni. Solanki was Mumbai’s highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 15, while Kulkarni picked up 14 scalps with an impressive economy rate of only 3.72.