Rahane and Shedge help Mumbai knock off 222 to make semis

Mumbai 224 for 4 (Rahane 84, Shaw 49, Dube 37*, Shedge 36*, Parwani 2-33) beat Vidarbha 221 for 6 (Taide 66, Wankhade 51, Dubey 43*, Ankolekar 2-32) by six wickets

“Beware of us,” was the message Mumbai seemed to convey as they marched into the semi-final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Six days after hunting down a record 230 against Andhra, Mumbai mowed down a target of 222 against Vidarbha, with six wickets and four deliveries in the bank.

Ajinkya Rahane showed the way by bashing 84 off 45 balls, and adding 83 in just seven overs with Prithvi Shaw. Dipesh Parwani had Shaw caught at long-off to check Mumbai’s flow, and the wicket slowed them down for just a little while. Shaw had cracked 49 from 26 deliveries, including five fours and four sixes.

Yash Thakur eventually dismissed Rahane to start the 16th over, by which time he had carved ten fours and three sixes himself but Mumbai still needed another 65 to win. Seeing the hefty requirement, Suryansh Shedge went 4, 6, 6, 6 off Mandar Mahale to pick up 24 runs off the 17th over. Shivam Dube then started the 18th by clubbing two more sixes, off Parwani, to all but kill the contest.

That Vidarbha had 221 on the board was down to half-centuries from Atharva Taide and Apoorv Wankhade, who added 81 for the third wicket. Vidarbha were 100 for 2 after ten overs – by then, Taide had reached his fifty – before both batters smashed 46 off the next four overs. Atharva Ankolekar then trapped Taide in front for 66, and Shedge bowled Wankhede for 51, but Shubham Dubey (43 off 19 balls), Mahale (13 off 5) and Jitesh Sharma (11 off six) blasted 54 off the final three overs.

By the time the game was done, a total of 39 fours and 22 sixes had been smacked in Alur.

Himanshu Agrawal is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo