Mumbai's Prithvi Shaw boost could leave Hyderabad blue in Bengaluru

Prithvi Shaw

A star-studded batting line-up, headlined by the troika of Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and rising teenage batting sensation Prithvi Shaw, make Mumbai runaway favourites against Hyderabad in the first Vijay Hazare semi-final here today. With the inclusion of Prithvi and Rahane, who joined the squad after completing their Test match duty in Hyderabad along with the presence of Rohit and Shreyas Iyer, the Mumbai batting does have a menacing look to it.

Ambati Rayudu and young pacer Mohammed Siraj however do add some muscle to the Hyderabad outfit, which has been impressive in the national one-day championship this far. With Prithvi set to open alongside Team India's limited overs vice-captain Rohit, the left-handed opener Akhil Herwadkar is expected to be benched. Rahane, it is learnt, will be included in place of either Siddhesh Lad or Suryakumar Yadav.

The Indian ODI squad members are set to report to Guwahati on October 18 and if Mumbai happen to emerge victorious in the semi-final here, Rohit will miss the summit clash which is scheduled for October 20. For Mumbai, the three top run-getters in the tournament so far have been Shreyas (311 runs), Prithvi (287) and Yadav (237 runs). Rahane is fourth in the list with 230 runs to his name.

The Mumbai bowlers have also been consistent with seamer Dhawal Kulkarni (14 wickets) and left-arm spinner Shams Mulani (15 wickets) sharing the bulk of the wickets. Medium pacer Tushar Deshpande, who took five against Bihar in the quarter-final also is in good form. For Hyderabad, their premier batsmen have been BP Sandeep (342) and Tanmay Agarwal (292). The bowling will depend on Siraj (eight wickets from six games) and Mehidy Hasan (13 wickets from eight games).

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