Hazare Trophy: Shreyas excels on return as Mumbai enters knockouts with a narrow win

As Shreyas Iyer returned to competitive cricket after a long injury lay-off, he made optimum use of two reprieves and went on to score a 53-ball-82 (10×4, 3×6) as Mumbai entered the quarterfinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, with a seven-run win against Himachal Pradesh here on Tuesday.

With dense fog leading to a delayed start, the Elite Group C fixture was reduced to a 33-over-a-side affair. And, put in to bat in a vital game, Shreyas and Musheer Khan (73, 51b, 8×4, 3×6) led Mumbai’s fightback after it lost Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sarfaraz Khan early and guided the team to 299 for nine.

However, Himachal didn’t go down without a fight. With Pukhraj Mann, Ankush Bains and Mayank Dagar scoring fifties, Mumbai had nervous moments until the final over, where it had to defend 12 runs.

But Shivam Dube (four for 68) held his nerve and helped Mumbai book a berth in the quarterfinals, along with Punjab, which defeated Goa by six wickets.

Shreyas’ innings, though, was the highlight of the day. As national selector R.P. Singh watched the proceedings at the Jaipuria Vidyalaya Ground, Shreyas initially looked jittery, and was dropped twice at slips by Innesh Mahajan.

But the stand-in Mumbai captain regained his composure, and forged an 82-run partnership for the third wicket with Musheer. He targetted the left-arm spinners, scoring 27 and 22 runs respectively off Dagar and Kushal Pal (three for 52). With the surface easing out, both Shreyas and Musheer looked set, before the latter was caught at covers by Dagar off Kushal. However, Shreyas rebuilt with Suryakumar Yadav, who entertained the crowd with a couple of sixes and a four, before falling to Kushal.

Sairaj Patil’s nine-ball 25 ensured that Mumbai did not lose the plot despite Shreyas missing out on a ton, after being caught at mid-wicket off a Kushal delivery.

Chasing a tall total, Himachal lost a couple of wickets in the opening over before opening its tally. But it fought back with Mann and Bains adding 111 runs for the third wicket. However, losing wickets in clusters, Himachal fell short, despite Amanpreet Singh’s 21-ball-42.