Shaw debut hundred seals Mumbai's final berth

Mumbai 411 (Tare 83, Suryakumar 73, Nayar 58, Thakur 52, Shankar 4-59) & 251 for 4 (Shaw 120) beat Tamil Nadu 305 (Indrajith 64, Nayar 4-66, Thakur 4-75) & 356 for 6 dec (Indrajith 138, Abhinav 122) by six wickets
Scorecard

That Mumbai did not so much storm as saunter into their second successive Ranji Trophy final and their 46th in all - a six-wicket win over Tamil Nadu in two sessions will qualify as nothing less - will gladden them for more than one reason. Firstly, it was a strong opening partnership, an elusive ingredient all season, that set up the chase of 251 on the final day.

Secondly, and more importantly, it was Prithvi Shaw, a 17-year-old debutant, who was in the vanguard with a fearless hundred. During the course of his 175-ball 120, Shaw also became the first Mumbai batsman to score a hundred on Ranji Trophy debut in more than two decades, after Amol Muzumdar last achieved the feat in 1993-94.

If one delivery were to sum up the contrasting fortunes of Shaw and Tamil Nadu, it was the second ball of the 51st over. Shaw, on 99, steered Vijay Shankar to gully, and as B Indrajith completed the catch, he was shattered. Even as Shaw tried to drag himself off the field, the umpires asked him to wait to check for the no ball.

As it turned out, Shankar had overstepped; Suryakumar Yadav instantly went up to Shaw and patted his shoulder. Four balls later, Shaw steered Shankar to gully again. But, this time the ball went along the ground and Suryakumar dashed to the danger end. As Shaw's helmet came off to reveal his pubescent face, the magnitude of his achievement on the big stage hit home.

This wasn't the first instance, though, of Shaw seeing off a nerve-wracking period; he and his partner Praful Waghela were put under considerable pressure by Tamil Nadu's bowlers and close-in fielders yesterday - it showed in the nervy running between the wickets - and there was no respite in the morning session either, when play began after a 35-minute delay owing to poor visibility caused by dense fog.

This time, however, Shaw wasn't looking to play for stumps, and found his bearings with a crunchy backfoot punch through covers off Aswin Crist in the second over of the day. Despite two gullies and a short point breathing down on him, Shaw continued to middle the ball confidently. He was similarly unruffled by Dinesh Karthik's chirp about the impending bouncers from behind the stumps, and was comfortably ducking them.

When he leant forward to Crist and produced two punchy cover drives off successive deliveries, it became further evident that neither Crist nor Vignesh posed a threat to him. Also, with little swing on offer, captain Abhinav Mukund turned to Aushik Srinivas, his lead spinner. Aushik hadn't conceded a run in his three overs late on Wednesday, but Shaw slog-swept his first delivery of the morning from the line of the stumps; it was a shot that would fetch him rich returns all day. Emboldened by Shaw, Waghela, too, unwrapped a brace of powerful sweeps against Aushik, who went for 31 in his four-over spell and was taken off the attack.

Shankar and B Aparajith were introduced belatedly, but the outcome wasn't going to change. If swatting Aparajith for a six over long on was another illustration of Shaw's bravado, he showed in the next delivery that he could be sensible too; he stayed on leg stump, beside the line of the ball, and gently worked the ball off the backfoot into the vacant cover-point region for a single. Ironically, the top-edged pull for four that brought up Shaw's fifty was the only shot that lacked conviction. Despite losing Waghela, who was caught after top-edging a pre-meditated sweep off a good length, Mumbai went into lunch the more confident team at 113 for 1.

Left-arm seamer T Natarajan, who had been introduced only an over before lunch, was Tamil Nadu's latest gambit. Mumbai's response was to unleash a double-barrelled assault, with Shreyas Iyer and Shaw having fun at their opponents' expense. Aushik returned for a fresh spell, and bowled from over the stumps to target the rough outside the right-hand batsmen's leg stump. Whenever Shaw didn't kick the ball away, he swept furiously off the rough.

The field was now spread out and the spinners bowled defensive lines to provoke a loose shot, but despite only 29 runs coming in the first 10 overs after lunch, Iyer and Shaw didn't lose their heads. Eventually, it was Tamil Nadu's patience that wore thin, as neither the change of bowlers or ball - two balls were replaced in the space of 10 overs - brought them the desired results.

Shankar ended the 91-run stand by removing Iyer in the 47th over, but Suryakumar blew out the faintest flicker of hope for Tamil Nadu with some lusty hitting. The only element of interest was if eventual man-of-the-match Shaw would hit the winning runs, but he perished to a slog after attempting to finish the game quickly The winning run in the following over was an anti-climax when Siddhesh Lad turned Aparajith's delivery into the leg side for a single; it was a good few seconds later - after the scorers provided the confirmation - that Mumbai knew they had done it. In a chase that was as effortless as it was meticulous, who could fault them.