Vijay Hazare Trophy: Gautam helps Rajasthan beat Mumbai

CHENNAI: A century from Siddhesh Lad (100) and half-century from Prithvi Shaw (52) went in vain as Rajasthan stunned Mumbai by six wickets in a Group C clash of the Vijay Hazare Trophy at TI Murugappa Ground here on Friday. The star of the show was Rajasthan opener Amitkumar Gautam, whose unbeaten 149 steered them to their first victory of the tournament. While Rajasthan still have a lot of work to do if they are to qualify for the quarterfinals, Mumbai remain well-placed at second in the group with 12 points from four games.
Chasing 269, Rajasthan's hopes seemed to have vanquished when they were reduced to 64/3 in the 19th over.Medium-pacer Shivam Dubey inflicted most of the damage up until that point, dismissing Yash Kothari and Aditya Garhwal for 16 and 2 respectively. But a determined Gautam was joined by an equally able Mahipal Lomror as the duo stitched together a 177-run partnership for the fourth wicket. As the runs started flowing, the Mumbai bowlers were put under severe pressure while defending a target for the first time in the tournament. While skipper Mahipal was unable to see it through to the end, Gautam ensured there were no further hiccups, notching up his first List A hundred in the process. Wicketkeeper Chetan Bist (14 not out off 13 balls) gave the opener company as they got to the target with 15 balls to spare.
Explaining the thought-process behind his knock, an elated Gautam said: "The plan was for one of the openers to bat till the end. Since we lost an early wicket, the onus fell on me to bat right through the 50 overs and take the team through. It wasn't a wicket where you could play your shots from the word go. The ball was stopping a bit. So I wanted to show some restraint and be judicious in my shot selection."
Earlier, Lad continued his rich vein of form with his second century of the tournament. The 25-year-old had notched up a match-winning 129 against Gujarat on Tuesday. Batting first after winning the toss, Mumbai were handed an early setback with the dismissals of openers Akhil Herwadkar and Jay Bista for 9 each. It was up to ‘crisis man' Lad and the precociously talented Shaw, who batted at No. 3 after opening in their previous game, to resurrect the Mumbai innings and they didn't disappoint. Unfortunately for them, though, a lack of substantial contributions from elsewhere meant that their 127-run stand did not count for much in the end. For Rajasthan, left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed picked up four for 35 from his 10 overs.
Brief scores: Mumbai 268/8 in 50 overs (S Lad 100, P Shaw 52; Khaleel Ahmed 4-35). Rajasthan 272/4 in 47.3 overs (A Gautam 149 not out). Rajasthan won by six wickets.