Vijay Hazare Trophy 2020-21: Mumbai clinch 4th title after Prithvi Shaw, Aditya Tare show in Delhi
New Delhi, Mar 14: Skipper Prithvi Shaw's marauding 73 off 39 balls followed by former skipper Aditya Tare's unbeaten hundred guided Mumbai to their most deserving Vijay Hazare title triumph with a crushing six -wicket victory over Uttar Pradesh in one of most lopsided final on Sunday.
Opting to bat, UP rode on opener Madhav Kaushik's unbeaten 158 to post 312/4, but it was overshadowed by the Shaw blitzkrieg which set the platform for Tare to finish off the chase in style with as many as 51 balls remaining.
This is Mumbai's fourth Hazare title and the one to remember for Shaw (827 runs), who now holds the record for highest runs scored in single edition of this competition.
Shaw (73 off 39 balls; 10x4, 4x6) and fellow opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (29; 3x4; 1x6) gave the side an aggressive start by conjuring 89 runs in 9.1 overs.
Shaw started with a cover-drive, off left arm seamer Yash Dayal. He got a life on 5, after being dropped by Karan Sharma at mid-off, and he then smashed three fours in the second over off Aaqib Khan.
He then took on Dayal, hammering two boundaries and a six over mid-wicket, his trademark pull-shot, as Mumbai raced to 32/0 after three overs.
Shaw continued his onslaught and notched up his 50 in only 30 balls, with a six, another pull shot, but then holed in the deep off Shivam Mavi when another hundred looked imminent.
Jaiswal and Tare added 38-run stand but the left handed opener gave Shivam Sharma his first wicket, after being caught by Mavi but Mumbai were already on course with a run-rate of 8.5 runs per over.
Veteran Tare, who hammered 18 boundaries in his 107-ball knock, anchored the innings and found an able ally in Shams Mulani (36), as the duo took the game deep, as Mumbai cruised to the target, with 174/2 after 25 overs.
Tare and Mulani kept playing shots at will as the duo added crucial 88-runs for the third wicket. But Mulani perished in the 31st over, with Mumbai still needing another 98 runs.
However, Tare kept the momentum going as he hammered Dayal for three boundaries in the 33rd over, even as Shivam Dube (42 off 28 balls; 6x4, 1x6) played a fitting cameo.
Tare completed his century in 91 balls, his first in List A cricket, with a single. The Tare-Dube duo took Mumbai on the cusp of a win, adding 88 runs for the fourth wicket before the former skipper played a back cut between point and short third man to complete the formalities.
Earlier, UP rode on opener Madhav Kaushik's unbeaten 158 to post 312 for four.
Kaushik, who hammered 15 fours and four sixes, in his 156-ball knock and Samarth Singh (55 off 73 balls; 4x4; 3x6) added 122 runs for the first wicket to lay the foundation of a big score.
It will be some consolation that Kaushik is now the highest individual scorer in a National One Day Championship final, surpassing Mayank Agarwal's 125 against Punjab in 2014.
Brief Scores: Uttar Pradesh 312/4 (Madhav Kaushik 158 not out, Akshdeep Nath 55; Tanush Kotian 2/54, Prashant Solanki 1/71) lost to Mumbai 315/4 (Aditya Tare 118 not out, Prithvi Shaw 73, Shivam Mavi 1/63) by six wickets.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
