Prithvi Shaw to captain Mumbai in Vijay Hazare Trophy Knockouts

Regular Mumbai captain Shreyas Iyer is set to depart for national duty along with Suryakumar Yadav and Shardul Thakur to face England in the limited-overs leg of their tour. Under the circumstances, the Mumbai Cricket Association has chosen Prithvi Shaw to shoulder the responsibility.

Prithvi Shaw appointed as the captain of Mumbai Team for the Vijay Hazare Knock-outs. Iyer, Suryakumar and Thakur have been released from the squad due to International duties.

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 1, 2021

Shaw has been appointed captain of Mumbai for the knockout phase of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021, and the diminutive right-handed opener has a proven captaincy record.

He led India’s Under-19 team to World Cup glory in 2018. Shaw had also captained Mumbai when they faced Puducherry in the league stage of the ongoing tournament. He smashed a record-breaking 227* off 152 balls to lead his team to a huge total of 457/4, which they easily defended by 233 runs.

Highest scores as captain in men’s List A:

227* – Prithvi Shaw vs Puducherry, Jaipur, Today
222* – Graeme Pollock vs Border, East London, 1974
219 – Virender Sehwag vs WI, Indore, 2011
208* – Rohit Sharma vs SL, Mohali, 2017#VijayHazareTrophy2021

— ESPNcricinfo stats (@ESPNcric_stats) February 25, 2021

Mumbai are unbeaten in the VHT so far after 5 league games and are one of the favorites to win the title despite the departure of three experienced campaigners. Here are their results from the 50-over tournament so far:

Round 1 vs Delhi – Won by 7 wickets

Round 2 vs Maharashtra – Won by 6 wickets

Round 3 vs Puducherry – Won by 233 runs

Round 4 vs Rajasthan – Won by 67 runs

Round 5 vs Himachal Pradesh – Won by 200 runs

Prithvi Shaw made a rollicking start to his international career with a century on Test debut in 2018. However, the explosive opener recently lost his place in India’s Test squad. He was dropped after scoring 0 and 4 in the day-night Test in Adelaide during India’s recent tour to Australia.

But Shaw seems to have rediscovered the kind of form that made him a sensation in the IPL as well as in international cricket. He has scores of 105*, 34, 227*, 36 and 2 in the five innings he’s played in the tournament so far.

2️⃣2️⃣7️⃣* v Puducherry (Today)
3️⃣4️⃣ v Maharashtra
1️⃣0️⃣5️⃣* v Delhi@PrithviShaw has been in scintillating form of late with a double ton today as captain & a century couple of games ago in the #VijayHazareTrophy.#CAPvMUM pic.twitter.com/VDlGui7umP

— 100MB (@100MasterBlastr) February 25, 2021

With added responsibility on his shoulders, captain Prithvi Shaw will be hoping to continue his good form and lead Mumbai to their 4th Vijay Hazare title.