Vijay Hazare Trophy: Mumbai prevail over Saurashtra despite Cheteshwar Pujara's quick century

FILE PHOTO: Cheteshwar Pujara

India’s ‘Test specialist’ Cheteshwar Pujara’s quick fire 138 off just 129 balls failed to stop Mumbai from snatching a 2-wicket win in the Vijay Hazare Trophy - West Zone fixture at Ahmedabad on Saturday.

Put in to bat, Saurashtra, riding on the right-hander’s 10th List A hundred, posted 279/5 first. Arpit Vasavada contributed 51(61) and starred in a 138-run 4th wicket partnership with Pujara.

In reply, another game changing 4th wicket stand involving veteran Wasim Jaffer and Shreyas Iyer sent Mumbai on the winning track from a precarious 78/3. Siddharth Trivedi, coming back to the domestic fold after a one-year ban by BCCI for failing to report an approach by a bookie, did all he could to bring Sautashtra back in the game, claiming four wickets after Vasavada and Sudeep Tyagi accounted for Jaffer and Iyer.

The medium pacer removed Suryakumar Yadav (26), Iqbal Abdullah and wicket-keeper batsman Sufiyan Sheikh (31) off successive overs towards in the end. However, Yadav’s men were only five runs away from victory by the time Sheikh fell. Wilkin Mota (10*) delivered a couple of crucial boundaries off Sudeep Tyagi in the final over to gift Mumbai 4 points.

Brief Scores:

Saurashtra: 279/5 (Cheteshwar Pujara 138, Iqbal Abdullah 2/40) 

Mumbai: 280/8 in 49.4 overs (Wasim Jaffer 83, Shreyash Iyer 59, Sidharth Trivedi 4/42).

Mumbai won by 2 wickets.