Ranji Trophy Final: Prithvi Shaw's unbeaten 70 guides Mumbai to 97 for 2 at Lunch on Day 1

Mumbai's latest young talent Prithvi Shaw carried forward from his semi-final century against Tamil Nadu to remain unbeaten on 70 and guide Mumbai to 97 for 2 at Lunch on Day 1 of their Ranji Trophy match against Gujarat on Tuesday.

Opting to bat first after captain Aditya Tare won the toss, Mumbai were given an early jolt when veteran pacer RP Singh trapped opener Akhil Herwadkar in front. With the ball moving sharply in the air at the Holkar Stadium in Indore, the 41-times Ranji champions had it all to do.

As was the case in the semi-final, 17-year-old Shaw once again raised his hand and played an attractive knock to steer his side to safety. The right-hander shared a 41-run partnership for the second wicket with Shreyas Iyer, who stepped out to pacer Chintan Gaja when he was batting on 14 only to get caught behind by Gujarat skipper Parthiv Patel.

With Mumbai still not out of the woods, Shaw dug in deep to stitch together an unbeaten 43-run partnership with Suryakumar Yadav who was unbeaten on 7 at the break. The diminutive opener's knock, which was studded with 11 boundaries, hit its fair share of bumps on the way as well. Shaw was dropped in the slip cordon early on in his innings and was also close to getting caught out at point when he played a casual cut shot just before Lunch.

Mumbai coach Chandrakant Pandit might be happy with his team's scoring rate at this point, but he will surely have a word of caution for young Shaw going into the next session. A few quick wickets post lunch will tilt the tie well and truly in Gujarat's favour.