Mumbai put Vidarbha in to bat at the KSCA Cricket Ground in Alur after winning the toss. Atharva Taide (66 off 41) and Karun Nair (26 off 15) took them off to a good start (60 in 5.3 overs) before Apoorv Wankhede (51 off 33) and Shubham Dubey (43 off 19) gave the innings the required impetus to take them past 200.

Vidarbha eventually ended at 221-6 from their 20 overs. Atharva Ankolekar (2-33 from four) was the pick of the Mumbai bowlers. Shivam Dube also bowled four overs for just 33 runs but didn't pick a wicket.

Also read: Explained: Why Prithvi Shaw didn't find a bidder at the IPL 2025 mega auction

Mumbai came out all guns blazing in response. Prithvi Shaw, who has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately, hit form at a crucial juncture for Mumbai. He went unsold at the recently concluded IPL 2025 auction and was woefully out of form. In the six games he had played in the SMAT this season before today, Shaw had scored 130 runs at 21.66. Against Vidarbha, however, he hit the ground running from ball one, or rather, ball two.

The second ball of the innings was dispatched for a six by Shaw, who proceeded to hit two more fours in the first over bowled by Harsh Dubey. Rahane, the former India captain, also started briskly, hitting three consecutive boundaries off the last three balls of the second over bowled by Darshan Nalkande.

Off the third over, both Rahane and Shaw hit a four each, before Rahane took a six and Shaw took a boundary in the fourth over to take Mumbai to 53-0 after four.

Prithvi sending the ball out of Dharthi.

Keep going boy!!#PrithviShaw #SMAT @JioCinema pic.twitter.com/huGi6XXjys

— Abhishek (@abhipsyc) December 11, 2024

Shaw hit two more sixes in the fifth over and a four and a six in the sixth as Mumbai raced off to 82-0 in the first powerplay. Shaw himself had taken himself to 49 off 21 and was in sight of a first T20 fifty in 12 games before he was dismissed on the last ball of the seventh over after having faced four consecutive dots.

Call him unfit or whatever, but Prithvi Shaw hasn't lost any of that ball-striking ability. 49 off 26 to set the tone for Mumbai in a massive chase.

— Shashank Kishore (@captainshanky) December 11, 2024

Rahane carried on his assault at the other end, however, and kept Mumbai in the hunt as the required rate kept notching up. He reached his fifty off just 27 balls and was only dismissed in the 16th over for a 45-ball 84 in a knock studded with ten fours and three sixes.

At the time of writing, Mumbai needed 60 off the last four overs with six wickets in hand and Dube and Suryansh Shedge at the crease.