Uttar Pradesh Awaits Prithvi Shaw's Storm In Vijay Hazare Trophy Final

Continuing his purple patch, Prithvi Shaw slammed his fourth century (165 off 122 balls) in seven matches to help Mumbai thrash Karnataka by 72 runs in a semi-final encounter on Thursday and set up the title clash with Uttar Pradesh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Uttar Pradesh, too, registered a comprehensive win, by five wickets against Gujarat in the other semi-final match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Akshdeep Nath with 71 runs and left-arm pacer Yash Dayal with three wickets were the architects of Uttar Pradesh's win.

The final will be played on Sunday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

At Air Force Palam A ground, Shaw (17x4s, 7x6s) again looked in ominous form as he scored his fourth century – including a double -- in seven Vijay Hazare Trophy matches. He scored his runs at a brilliant strike rate of 135.25 that propelled Mumbai to a match-winning 332 all out in 49.2 overs after Karnataka won the toss and opted to bowl first. Shams Mulani scored 45.

For Karnataka, Prasidh Krishna bagged three wickets.

In reply, Karnataka were all out for 250 in 42.4 overs, though Devdutt Padikkal scored a 64-ball 64 and Sharath BR made a 39-ball 61. Mumbai used seven bowlers, and four of them bagged two wickets apiece. They were Tanush Kotian, Tushar Deshpande, Mulani, and Prashant Solanki.

In the other match, Gujarat won the toss but were all out for 184 in 48.1 overs. Besides Dayal's three wickets, Aaqib Khan took two. The top score for Gujarat was Het Patel with 60.

In reply, Uttar Pradesh notched up the required runs at the loss of five wickets. Askhdeep Nath (71 off 104 balls), captain Karan Sharma (38), and Upendra Yadav (31 not out) were the main scorers.

Brief scores (semi-finals):

Mumbai: 332 all out in 49.2 overs (Prithvi Shaw 165, Shams Mulani 45, Prasidh Krishna 3/64) beat Karnataka: 250 in 42.4 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 64, Sharath BR 39) by 72 runs

Gujarat: 184 all out in 48.1 overs (Het Patel 60, Piyush Chawla 32, Yash Dayal 3/34, Aqib Khan 2/22) lost to Uttar Pradesh 188/5 in 42.4 (Akshdeep Nath 71, Karan Sharma 38, Chintan Gaja 2/30) by 5 wkts